Love is blind
by baby-kitsune9
Summary: Kenichi has been keeping secrets from his masters.One-the person who inspired him to be stronger was his half sister Setsuna,a former yakuza ars later she's returned to town running from her painful past with her young daughter in tow. new chap 22!
1. Chapter 1

It all started in mid July.

Apachi and Shio were on their way back to the dojo from the grocery store after doing the shopping for their friend Hyato's granddaughter Miu whom had been too busy helping to train their desciple, Kenichi Shirahama, when they noticed something peculiar up ahead of them where the heavy wooden door attached to the thirteen foot wall surrounding the dojo.

There was a person half sitting on the pavement, half leaning against the brick wall.

The body was half curled up, the long slender legs bent at the knees, the arms resting in the person's lap, and long dark hair hid any facial features though Shio would know a young woman anywhere no matter what shape the body was in. And this young woman's presence along with her uncanny ability to nap in such a public place, sort of drew the two martial arts masters attention to her like a bloody magnet.

They stopped walking and stood about two feet or so away from the seemingly napping woman and looked around almost anxiously before one scratched his cheek while the other knelt down and sort of poked the woman's denim clad ankle to see if she would react and got an alarmed look on his face when the woman didn't so much as twitch.

"Apa...doesn't think that this is a _natrual_ sleepy time." Apachi said in a slightly worried tone as Shiro set down some of the bags of food that he'd been carrying and tapped his friend on the shoulder and motioned for him to move so that he could get a closer look at the woman.

After all it wasn't _totally_ uncommon for people to sometimes collapse outside of their dojo from fever, illness, and anemia. And if the woman needed some sort of medical attention then they could easily run her to the clinic and let Akisame check her out to make sure that she was okay.

At least if they did that then they wouldn't have to worry or feel guilty about her dying.

Shio reached out and cautiously slipped both of his hands under the long thick curtain of silky black hair and carefully tipped the woman's head back and automatically noticed two things.

One- She had to be one of the most beautiful women that he had ever seen before in his life.

And two- Her lips were tinged an frightening blueish purple and she didn't have a pulse.

_Fucking A..._ He thought a second before screaming in horror for someone to come and help before it was too late.


	2. Chapter 2

Sorry for the wait- I had to wipe my computer and it took a while to set it back up.

This is my first Kenichi fic so to anyone who's read it so far, Thanks.

For those of you who couldn't get much out of my summary this fic is basically an Akisame/OC fic since he's my favorite character in the anime.

And please don't feel shy about reviewing to let me know how I'm doing.

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A few hours later-

Akisame leaned over the young woman resting on the narrow cot like bed in his clinic and pulled the blanket up over her slender shoulders before straightening his back and sighing. He'd nearly had a heart attack earlier when Shio and Apachi had come barreling into his clinic carrying an unconscious, and eerily still young woman and startled babbling incoherently.

Akisame had initally thought that the two had been rough housing and had accidentally killed someone.

And the second he'd examined the woman and found that she wasn't breathing, he'd felt a lead weight settle in his chest and had been about to go get a shovel so that he could bury the poor woman when the two had practically bellowed the walls of his clinic down in an effort to get him to look at the girl again and see if there was anything that he could do for her.

Akisame had sighed, thinking that the two were giving him a headache and directed them to lay the woman on one of the beds he kept for people with broken bones and such and went about examining the woman to shut his friends up.

After examining her Akisame found that she must have been mugged or something. There were bruises present on one of her upper arms and another the size of a fist on her chest over her heart where she had no doubt been hit.

He restarted her heart with a few chest compresses and waited for several minutes as she struggled to pull herself from the grim reapers grasp before settling back and deciding that it would be best for her to rest for a little while. Once she regained consciousness he would have Apachi walk her home to make sure that she got there safely.

After this was done he shooed Shio and Apachi out of his clinic thoroughly convinced that if they stayed they would frighten the woman once she woke up. Then as soon as they were gone he decided to take another look at the woman just to be sure he hadn't missed anything.

Luckily he hadn't felt it necessary to strip the unconscious female.

God knew that he would have a time explaining himself to her once she woke up, if he did. But that didn't mean that he didn't move things out of his way a little bit before he started to examine her again.

Muttering under his breath, "Sorry about this but it has to be done." Then added the words, "I'm not a pervert so your honor is safe with me." As he nervously grasped the woman's wrist and lightly ran his fingers along the back of her hand, checking for defensive wounds that he may have missed before.

The second he ran fis finger tips along the soft silk of her skin he thanked god that he was blind.

Though he didn't need to really see her to know that she was an delicate and otherworldly beauty. He could feel she was just by touching her. Her bones felt so slender and fragile under his fingertips.

He found himself holding his breath and loosening his grasp on her arm as he ran his hand along the length of it from her long slender fingers up to her shoulder where he felt a thick long silky strand of hair. Curious he slipped a finger under the lock of hair and measured it then filed the information away in the back of his mind before moving on.

He didn't bother touching her chest any more than he deemed necessary to make sure that the bruise on her chest wouldn't hurt her too terribly much once she woke up, though he would imagine that her breasts were about as big as Shigure's. She had the lith athletic body of a dancer.

_Or a fighter._ His mind whispered excitedly. Akisame shook his head and ruthlessly shoved the thought aside and skimmed his hands along her sides until he reached her hips, mentaly measuring the width before stopping cold in shock.

This woman had wider hips than he had expected.

_You can always tell a woman is either a mother or about to become one if you just look at their hips. _Kensei's voice slithered through his mind making him a little bit uncomfortable.

He had never really examined a woman who could possibly be someone's mother before. And the mere thought that the strange woman might be a mother or expectant mother _bothered_ him enough to stop her examination and fix her clothes then retuck the blanket up around her shoulders and move away feeling as if he should go get some flowers for her as an apology for more or less feeling her up.

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"Whoa that was close. That chick's lips being blue really scared me." Shio said as he opened his beer and lifted it to his lips to take a drink as he sat down on the porch next to Apachi whom had been zoning out for the past while since Akisame had chased them out of his clinic.

Apachi sat with his knees drawn to his chest, his arms wrapped around his knees, his grey eyes staring blankly ahead. He nodded his head as if he had heard Shio though he didn't actually say anything.

"Apachi? Man are you okay?" Shio asked after a second or so. Apachi shook his head no. Of course he wasn't okay. The pretty girl had almost died. Apachi had been about to cry. He was so sad!

Shio looked at his friend as the Thailand boxer hid his face against his knees and reached out and put his hand on top of the distraught man's head and ruffled his spikey hair. "I know how you feel Apachi. I was about to cry too."


	3. Chapter 3

Kenichi Shirahara had had a _horrible_ day today.

It had all started when he had woken up that morning to get ready for school. He'd had a strange premonition while checking the date on his calendar. He'd seen that it was the thirteenth and had had a chill run down his spine.

That chilll had later on developed into a feeling of dread as he had realised that today was the nine year anniversary of his older half sister, Setsuna's disappearance after the bizzare events that had caused the deaths of almost nine people.

All of them linked to the local yakuza gang.

One of whom had been Setsuna's own father. Fifty two year old Kijiro Sakuma.

Kenichi had spent a moment or so just staring at his calendar, trying hard not to wonder what had happened the night that those people had been killed. And if his sister was really as involved in the incident as he'd heard everyone say she was.

Shortly after that one of his masters had come to fetch him from his room so that they could all eat breakfast together before he and Miu went off to school.

Kenichi had faked his way through breakfast then had run when one of his masters had noticed that he was a little bit off and while he was sure that said master would be waiting somewhere to ambush him and get some answers out of him; Kenichi was really not in the mood to indulge his masters today. As soon as he got to the dojo he was going straight to his room and locking himself inside.

What he did for the next few days or weeks, depending upon how out of it he felt, was _none_ of their business.

He stopped walking and tipped his head back and looked up at the sky for a second, a million questions swirling in his mind. Where was she? Where was his sister and what was she doing right now? Was she happy where she was? Or was she still the sad troubled youth she had been the last time he'd seen her?

She would have turned twenty three a month or so ago.

Was she still single? Had she started dating? Had she married? Did she have kids? He closed his eyes for a second and sighed. God would he ever see his sister again? Or was she lost to him forever?

He sighed again, the sound drowning out the sound of Miu, Nijima, Takeda, and Ukita's footsteps as they came walking up. "Hey! Kenichi!" Takeda called out causing Kenichi to pause and turn his head to look at them.

There was a flash of what could have been annoyance in his expression but it was gone too quickly for any of them to really see it as Kenichi smiled at them and gave them a stiff little wave of his hand. "Hey guys. What are you doing here?" Kenichi asked curiously as the group all fell into step on either side of him and started walking again.

"Well you ran out of the school yard so fast thet we thought that you might be in some sort of trouble. So after picking up Miu, we decided to come and see what was going on." Takeda said pleasantly.

"Ah I see." Kenichi said as he turned his head a little bit and glared at Nijima, knowing instinctively that he must have somehow been involved in Takeda and Ukita's appearance.

Nijima was strangley somber and subdued under the weight of Kenichi's stare and said nothing to either defend himself or condemn himself. He kept his eyes straight forward, his shoulders were slouching a little bit. Which was also unusual for the evil minded sadistic alien/demon.

"So what had you in such a rush that you didn't even have time to spare a few words to a friend, huh?" Ukita asked as he kind of pushed Takeda aside a little bit and slipped an arm around Kenichi's shoulders.

Kenichi was about to reach up and remove Ukita's arm from his shoulders when Nijima reached out and carefully removed the older teen's arm and said, "I told you guys earlier that Kenichi wasn't feeling well today. He probably wants to get to the dojo and lay down for a while before he gets worse. So why don't the three of us respect him a little bit and let the poor guy go without any more questions. I'll buy you guys an ice cream or something..."

Takeda, Ukita and Miu all stared at the alien/demon with funny _shocked_ expressions on their faces as Kenichi sighed and lifted a hand to massage his temple. He was starting to get a headache.

Takeda and Ukita noticed the action and immediately fell silent for a moment before awkwardly excusing themselves after saying that they'd check up on him later on then left with Nijima. _Wow that was odd._ Kenichi thought before turning to Miu who had a concerned look on her pretty face. "Are you really feeling bad Kenichi?" She asked worriedly.

Kenichi gave her a forced smile and nodded his head. "Yeah. A little bit."

"Well that's no good. Maybe you should go to the clinic and let Akisame look at you."

Kenichi lifted his arms in a placating gesture- which was a mistake since Miu grabbed his arm and before he could so much as say "No. Don't.", he found himself being dragged towards Akisame's clinic at break neck speed.

He'd have to remember what sort of person Miu was next time and simply chance running for it to keep her from dragging him to the clinic over and over again.


	4. Chapter 4

Kenichi had given up the struggle by the time they reached Akisame's clinic and was simply letting himself be dragged behind Miu when Akisame came walking out of the small building with a dark haired young woman. Miu paused in mid step to stare at the woman curiously giving Kenichi the chance he needed to wrench himself free of his friends grasp and bound to his feet fully intending to run like hell when he noticed the woman too and froze.

He couldn't see her face. Not very clearly anyways. Her dark hair was hanging in her face, partially hiding it from view. But then he didn't exactly have to see her face to know who she was.

He recognised her in other ways. Like her height, build, weight, what she was wearing (an comfortable off the shoulder teal hip length shirt and form fitting skinny jeans that hugged long slender legs) and the sound of her voice. Her voice was very soft and lyrical. It was _beautiful_ to hear and could easily gain the attention of others without being raised.

God he'd been _dying_ to hear that voice again. And now that he had heard it, even froma small distance he couldn't imagine never hearing it again.

She turned her head a little bit, noticing that he and Miu were there and Kenichi's heart damn near stopped beating in his chest when he saw the flash of vivid turqouise eyes, smooth ivory skin, and pale pink lips that curved up a little bit in an enigmatic smile as she looked right at him.

Kenichi started to shake but quickly snapped himself out of his funk and growled then turned and ran away. Miu turned her head to see what he was doing and noticed that he was missing and shrieked in outrage. "Kenichi come back!"

Kenichi vanished around the corner just up the street and hid himself by scaling one of the neighbors fences and waited until Miu went running past before he bothered to come out.

His mind already forming a battle plan to keep his long lost sister in his sights.

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Setsuna finished thanking the man whom had looked after her while she was unconscious and offered to pay him for his time since he had wasted it on her but he had politely turned her offer down and asked her to wait at the door for a moment so that he could call someone to walk her home.

She found it just a little bit odd that he would say something like that, and even asked him why she would need someone to walk her home when he mentioned something about her having been mugged. Naturally this was surprising to her since she couldn't recall ever being mugged before in her life.

Sure she'd been a mugger of innocent people in her earlier years and knew what generally happened when someone was mugged, but she didn't bother correcting the nice man's assumption since the truth wasn't exactly better.

That and she doubt that the guy would understand that she had been recognised by a guy that she had beaten to a bloody pulp way, way back in the day and he had decided to pay her back for all his pain and suffering.

He'd failed miserably of course since she was still more or less in one piece and he was probably on his way to the hospital right that moment.

She leaned against the side of the building and sighed as she waited for the man to come back outside of the clinic and tell her that she could go when she saw something dark out of the corner of her eye and turned her head to find her younger half brother Kenichi standing a few feet away from her looking determined. "Hello Keni." She said with an awkward smile.

Kenichi didn't move, didn't blink, didn't speak for a heart beat or two. Then reached out and grabbed her wrist in one of his hands and squeezed tightly enough for his grip to hurt her a little bit as he tugged on her arm, indicating that she should come with him without a fuss and started to lead her away from the building. "Uh Keni, that nice man asked me to stay put-"

"He'll get over it-" Kenichi growled as he led her further and further away from the building as he asked, "When did you come back to town?"

She was silent for a second, her attention still on the man from the clinic. Was Kenichi sure that he would get over her not waiting there? He had sounded so insistant before. And she didn't want him to worry.

She felt Kenichi squeeze her wrist a little bit tighter causing her to twitch and look at him. "Careful little brother. It feels like your trying to break my wrist." Kenichi loosened his grip on her slightly, but didn't let go. He was still waiting for her to answer his question. But it looked as if she was a mite too distracted with Akisame's feelings to worry much about his own.

Either that or she was ignoring him. Which seemed very likely since she had never liked being questioned. Kenichi gnashed his teeth in frustration then decided to change his line of questioning so that he could get some damn answers and asked quietly, "Have you been taking care of yourself?"

Setsuna made a humming sound before saying. "I've been trying too... Say Kenichi, where exactly are you dragging me? My home is the other way." Kenichi stopped walking and turned to look at her, a curious expression on his face.

"Your home? You have a home? Seriously?" Kenichi asked in an awed/shocked tone. He had probably thought that once she came back to town that she would simply move in with his family and pick up where she left off.

But she couldn't do that. Not after everything that had happened these past nine years.

"Of course I do. Did you think I'd be living in a box or something?" Kenichi gave her a funny look then flushed a vivid red and she rolled her eyes. Of course he _would_ think that she'd probably been living in a cardboard box somewhere, miserable and unable to do even the simplest of tasks.

The damn boy had no common sense.

But then Kenichi had always thought of her as just another defenseless girl, like their mother or their little sister. Someone to be defended when shady guys stepped in her path. Someone weak and innocent and in desperate need of a knight in shining armor.

She sighed. If only she could live in an imaginary world as rich and perfect as the one Kenichi had created. Then maybe things wouldn't be so hard.


	5. Chapter 5

Kenichi fell into step behind Setsuna and let her lead the way to her new home despite his mind's warning him that this might be a trick of some kind and gnashed his teeth in frustration after asking her several questions about what she had been up too lately.

Those questions it seemed would go unanswered for a while longer since his sister seemed to have _no_ interest in telling him anything at all about what she had been up too since leaving home. They walked for a while and finally came to a stop outside of a cozy two story house just a block or so over from their original destination, just like she had said.

It was a nice place with brick walls. A shingled roof, trees, a flower garden, and there was what looked like a child's tea set sitting on a small wooden table in the fenced in yard.

Kenichi stared at the little table with it's tiny tea set and wondered idly if his sister was living with a boyfriend or something. Maybe one with a kid or a or sister or a neice or something. He was about to ask when the front door opened and a little girl about nine years old came running out of the house yelling, "Mommy's home! Mommy's home!"

Kenichi blinked his golden brown eyes and watched as the little girl ran right to his sister and threw herself into Setsuna's arms laughing as his sister kissed her rosy little cheeks and cuddled her close to her chest. Kenichi's jaw dropped open in utter shock and disbelief and for a moment or so his mind sputtered to a stop.

Mommy? The kid called his sister Mommy. As in she _is_ her mother or as in the kid _thinks_ she's her mother? Just what the fuck was going on here? Why was Setsuna pretending to be this kid's mom? She wasn't the motherly type.

Hell last he recalled, she didn't even like kids. _Period_.

He snapped himself out of his funk and pointed at the two chattering females and screamed, "Who is that kid and why is she calling you mommy?" Setsuna reached out and with a quick sweep of her hand, smacked him in the back of his head and then growled.

"This is Uzu. And she's calling me mommy because I _am_ her mommy, you baka." Kenichi winced at the amount of force behind the blow to the back of his head and rubbed his aching head as Setsuna set her daughter down and said cheerfully. "Uzu. Sweetheart, this is your uncle Kenichi-chan. Do you wanna say hi to him?"

Uzu stared up at Kenichi, whom was staring down at her with a funny look on his face as he studied her and took a sudden step back and hid herself behind her mother's legs and shyly peeked out from around them at him.

Kenichi scowled and the little girl burst into tears and ran away crying, leaving him with his sister-no that wasn't right. He was left with the _stranger_ that his sister had become.

He looked at her and saw the worried look on her face and inwardly cringed. This wasn't exactly how he had pictured his reunion with her. But since he didn't really know what she had been up too for the past nine years, he suppose that this outcome was inevitable.

"How old is she?" He asked curiously, still trying to put the missing pieces of the puzzle together. Setsuna looked at him and sighed as she used one hand to push her dark hair back away from her face.

"Nine. She turns ten next summer." Kenichi nodded his head and did some calculating in his head and felt sure that his sister wouldn't have gotten herself knocked up at fourteen. So there was no way that the kid was actually hers.

He sighed in relief and was about to say something to her about lying to him when she caught him off guard and told him to leave then walked away. Ending their not so pleasant little visit right then and there without so much as an apology or an excuse.

Kenichi stood there watching her back as she made her way across the yard then disappeared into the house after the kid. Well hell. It looked like he'd have to come back some other time for his answers.

He turned and started his short trek back to the dojo and found Miu and Shio and Akisame waiting for him at the gate. "Kenichi is everything okay? You ran off so fast before that I was worried something else might be wrong." Miu cried as she ran over to him and tried to throw her arms around his neck.

He caught her and held her back away from him and without a word walked past her and his two masters and quietly made his way to his room and wasn't seen again until morning when it was time for him to go to school.


	6. Chapter 6

Three days later-

"Have any of you noticed that Kenichi is acting kind of funny?" Miu asked as she fixed Shigure's bowl of rice and handed it to her. Everyone looked at her for a second before diving into the conversation.

"Actually yeah, we have noticed that he's been acting sort of funny." Kensei Ma, the resedent master of chinese martial arts said thoughtfully.

"How can we be totally sure that he's acting funny?" Shio asked curiously before continuing. "I mean it isn't like he hasn't ever acted _odd_ before. The kid is the very definition of oddness. And his mood swings make him more difficult to understand than-" Shio stopped talking as Miu and Shigure both looked at him through narrow eyes.

_Eek!_ They knew what he was wanting to say and it was already pissing them off. "You know what, let's just say that he's been acting odder than usual and leave it at that." Shio said quickly before picking up his chop sticks and busying himself with stuffing food in his mouth before he got himself into some real trouble.

Miu made a humming sound as Shigure muttered. "That was very wise of you Shio."

Apachai scarffed down his rice and handed the empty bowl to Miu for seconds and said. "Poor Kenichi. He not feel so well."

"I'll say, his training lately has left a lot to be desired." Akisame said thoughtfully as he ate his dinner. Miu made a funny sound and glanced at the blank spot at the table where Kenichi usually sat and sniffled a little bit.

Kenichi hadn't been eating with them recently. In fact, as far as Miu knew he hadn't been eating anything at all either here at the dojo or at achool for the past few days. He also hadn't been focusing on his training. Or talking to his friends.

It was as if he was just going through the motions. He wasn't actually there anymore. It was_ terrifying_ to think of what may happen if Kenichi kept locking himself away in his room and refusing to eat or train or even talk to them.

"Maybe we should call a meeting with him and see if we can get him to talk to us about what is bothering him." Kensei said as he polished off his dinner and set his chop sticks aside.

"That's not a bad idea. But what will we do if he doesn't feel like talking?" Akisame asked.

"We can beat the problem out of him." Shigure said matter of factly as she pulled a chain from the inside of her dress. The others around the table all fell silent for a second as they thought over the woman's suggestion for a moment then grinned at each other.

"Alright! We have a plan!" Shio said happily as he punched the air with his fist.

"Apa! Apapapapapapa!" Apachai yelled as he jumped up and started dancing around. Playing with Kenichi was one of his favorite past times. Akisame cracked his knuckles menacingly as he mentally thought about dislocating Kenichi's arms and legs so that he couldn't fight back or escape them while Kensei, and Miu both hung their heads and sighed.

Poor Kenichi.

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Kenichi could have heard his masters coming from a mile away. Not that it mattered much. He had committed himself to laying on his bed and neither speaking nor being scocial.

He was a bump on a log. And he liked it that way which was why he didn't move or twitch when his masters all filed into his room and made themselves comfortable in various spots around his bed and then stared at him for a moment before one of them, master Shio if the voice was any indication, said, "Kenichi we need to talk."

Kenichi kept his back to them and showed no signs of even hearing the rough and tumble street fighter. They could say whatever they wanted, they could think whatever they wanted; he had nothing to say about anything regarding his behavior these past few days or about what was bothering him.

To be perfectly honest he wasn't exactly sure _what_ to say about what was on his mind anyways.

Every time he went over what he knew about his sister, her involvement in the murders that occurred nine years ago and the fact that she had come back to town and had a 'kid' or adopted kid, he felt as if his head was going to explode.

_Nothing_ made sense to him.

"Kenichi we know that something is wrong. Won't you please tell us what it is that's bothering you? Your starting to worry us." Kensei said in a coaxing tone. Kenichi's only response was to curl his body into a tighter ball and continue to ignore them.

Kensei exchanged a look with Shio as Akisame cleared his throat and said warningly, "Kenichi we understand that some things are rather personal and we aren't trying to pry. But you're behavior recently is less than pleasing. You haven't been eating, training, or talking. You should know by now that if you have a problem that you _can_ talk to us about it. And we _will_ help you..."

"That's a lie-" Kenichi said suddenly, his voice very soft. "Knowing you guys you'd want to get more involved in my business and make an even_ bigger_ mess of things. Besides I can't tell you what I don't completely know. Everything right now is just bits and pieces of information. I don't know what's real or not in this instance. So thanks, but no thanks."

"At least give us an idea of what's bothering you Kenichi. If nothing else it might make you feel better." Shigure said worriedly.

"If you don't then Apachai gets to train you for the next two weeks straight." Akisame said in a sly tone as Apachai paled a little bit then burst into tears and rushed across the room to the bed and grabbed the teen by his shoulders and started shaking him.

"Tell them something Kenichi or Apachai's training will kill you! Apachai doesn't want to hurt Kenichi. Kenichi is Apachai's friend!"

"I don't feel like talking! Now get off and stop shaking me before you break my neck!" Kenichi yelled suddenly, causing Apachai to let go of him and quickly back away as the teen ran a hand through his messy dark hair and growled something that made everyone's jaws drop open in shock before he flopped back down on the bed and curled himself back up into a ball and ignored them until they left.

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Wow, six chapters long and no one has reviewed at all.

Does my story suck that much? Cause I'm trying really hard to make it a nice interesting read.


	7. Chapter 7

The next day was the weekend and just to make sure that none of the masters beat Kenichi for his rude, and scathing comment the night before Miu took the teen out of the dojo against his will. For a day of shopping so that everyone could cool their tempers and pull themselves together.

It was well past noon and Shio was still beating the hell out of the punching posts, beating each one down until they were nothing but splinter sized slivers of busted wood.

Shigure was sitting next to Apachai, both of them had their knees drawn to their chests and were staring blankly ahead. While Kensei and Akisame played a nice _calming_ game of shogi. So far Akisame was winning and Kensei was doing his damndest to cheat. But it was no good. Akisame was just too good at the game.

He won the game in less than five moves at which point Kensei growled and knocked the game board aside, sending the pieces scattering every which way. "Aw, why did you do that?" Akisame asked curiously as he tilted his head to the side and studied his old friend with his sightless eyes.

"Because you won." Kensei said as he pulled a girly mag out of his shirt and flipped it open and started to sulk as Akisame sighed and started to pick up the pieces. He understood everyone's foul moods. But did they have to take it out on helpless little board games and such?

He was getting tired of picking up the messes that they made.

Shio finally ran out of posts to hit and made his way over to where they were and sat down next to Kensei and rested his elbows on his knees as he tried to catch his breath. "Damn that kid. Who does he think he is talking to us like that..."

"Still upset about last night, hm." Akisame said as he picked up a few more of the shogi pieces and set them aside.

Shio wiped some of the sweat from his face with the back of one of his hands and made a low growling sound then snapped, "Aren't you?"

Akisame chuckled at his friend and shook his head no then said. "I don't get mad, Shio. I get even. And you can bet Kenichi will really feel it once he starts training again."

Shio turned his head slightly and looked at the younger man then snorted. "That's sadistic Akisame."

Akisame shrugged his shoulders.

Sadistic was something that he did _very_ well. So it shouldn't be surprising that he was biding his time and thinking up very painful things to do to Kenichi once he snapped out of his funk. He figured that he should get a few laughs out of whatever he did while he punished the teen for saying something so _disrespectful_ and _rude_ to them.

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Setsuna had been walking around in circles ever since she had come home from taking Uzu to school and had gotten lost while looking for her idiot brother.

What was supposed to be a nice walk/possible visit had turned out to be a hellish trek through the neighborhood and to make things worse, Uzu would be home from school in another hour or so.

Which meant that if she ever wanted to see her precious daughter again then she was going to have to break down and ask someone for directions.

She sighed and looked around, trying to find a place where someone was home. But so far she hadn't been able to find a place with any signs of life aside from the place up ahead with the vaguely familiar looking gate that seriously creeped her out.

She didn't want to go there if she could help it, but it was looking more and more like she wouldn't have a choice in the matter if she wanted to get home to her daughter. She stood outside of the gate for several minutes weighing the pros and cons then took an extra few seconds to gather her courage and walked up to the large gate and knocked.

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Akisame was listening to the others talk among themselves about Kenichi when he picked up the soft sound of a knock coming from the direction of the gate. "Someone is at the gate."

"It's probably that dumbass boy. I guess someone should go let the little punk in before he throws a fit and burns the neighborhood down or something." Shio said as he sighed and got to his feet and quickly made his way across the yard.

And upon reaching the gate, jerked the damn thing open and was a little bit startled when instead of Kenichi, a young woman fell through the opening and hit the ground on her back at his feet and stared up at him through wide alarmed turqoise colored eyes.

"Oh shit." Shio muttered as he quickly knelt down and slipped his hands under the woman's back and picked her up off of the ground while apologizing to her for letting her fall like that.

She gave him a slightly strained smile and assured him that there was nothing to apologize for. It was entirely her fault for leaning against the gate to begin with. The giant gave her an awkward smile and glanced behind her.

Setsuna turned her head a little bit to see what had distracted him and blanched a little bit when she saw the group of curious people watching her interaction with the guy. "Hm, you're not our idiot desciple-" One guy in his forties said before pulling out a camera and pointing it at her then saying, "But you are rather lovely and thus the chance to take your picutre is too much to pass up."

There was a flash of movement sweeping upward and the man's camera fell to pieces as the dark haired young woman in the ninja outfit turned her back and tucked what Setsuna could only assume was a short sword back into it's hiding spot under her scandalously short dress. A tall man wearing a form fitting yellow sleeveless shirt and red shorts with spikey greyish white hair walked up to her.

"Hello! I'm Apachai. Who are you?" Setsuna tilted her head back and looked up at the man's face and made a slightly distressed sound as her eyes widened to the size of saucers. Dear lord the man looked like he was nine foot tall and was probably close to four hunderd pounds of solid muscle.

"I-I-I'm-" The man leaned down a little bit and somehow wound up with his face a scant inch in a half from hers causing her to blush and quickly step back as she stammered a little more but couldn't seem to get past the words 'I am'.

Someone clapped their hands and the giant calling himself Apachai turned his head shifting his attention from the girl to Akisame who still had his hands in the air.

The man lowered his arms slowly and took several steps forward and reached out and set his hands on the woman's hips and then smirked as she sputtered and turned a vivid shade of pink. "Ah, your the young lady from the other day. I thought you're voice sounded familiar. How are you?"

Setsuna looked at the man with a distraught look on her face she realized that she knew him. "You're that guy from the clinic." She said as she grasped his wrists and carefully removed his hands from her waist. The man smiled kindly at her, his pale eyes sparkling.

"Yes, I am. What brings you here? Did you lose consciousness again?" He asked curiously, his smile fading as it was replaced by a concerned look.

"Oh. No. Nothing like that. I was just out walking round, looking for someone and kind of got turned around and uh...sort of got lost." Setsuna said with an embarrassed look on her face.

"Ah, that is a little bit of a problem. Who was it that you were looking for? A friend? A lover-"

"My little brother actually. I ran into him the other day on my way home and thought that maybe he was hanging out with some friends somewhere around here and thought I'd look around and see if I could find him."

"I see. Well, my friends and I know pretty much everyone in the area. If you tell us his name we could help you find him." Akisame offered.

"Oh, of course. His name is Kenichi Shirahara. Have you ever heard of him?"

There was a heartbeat of silence before everyone started laughing hysterically, Setsuna blinked and took a small wary step back from the group as the guy that had opened the gate and caused her to fall, doubled over holding his sides.

The group laughed for close to ten minutes straight before sombering up. The man from the clinic slipped an arm around her slender shoulders and said in an amused tone, "Forgive our outburst. Please come in. We have much to talk about." And quickly ushered Setsuna inside of the yard as the large gate was closed behind her, locking her in with the group of strange people.


	8. Chapter 8

Shigure set a cup of herbal tea down in front of Setsuna as the last of the group finished introducing themselves and then walked back to her seat and sat down as Shio said awkwardly, "Sooo, your Kenichi's sister? Really?"

Setsuna nodded her head as she picked up her cup and took a small sip of the tea that the ninja woman had set in front of her then set the cup back down. "Yes. I'm really Kenichi's sister."

"Kenichi doesn't talk about you." Kensei said as he propped his chin in his hand and rested his elbow on the table.

Setsuna tried hard not to let the elderly man's comment about Kenichi bother her, but couldn't seem to supress the sudden pang of guilt that she felt. "Well...that isn't exactly his fault. I'm not exactly the type of person a family would be proud of."

"Oh?" Akisame asked curiously, sensing that there was a story behind her words and hoping to prompt her into talking a little more. "You seem alright to me. You're very quiet, polite and well spoken."

"Those things took me years to achieve and are mostly used as a camouflage. I'm not as _nice_ or polite as I seem."

"Camouflage huh. Is there a reason you would call a mannerism that?"

"Yes. But I don't care to go into it with strangers. So you'll have to forgive me for not telling you anything-" Setsuna said. The group sighed and hung their heads and muttered something about 'damn secret keeping Shirihama's' before Setsuna decided to redirect their conversation and asked, "So why does Kenichi come here?"

That perked the group up a little bit. "Kenichi is training with us to be martial arts master." Shio said with a grin. Setsuna looked at him strangely for a second then gave a small smile.

"I'm glad he's doing something with himself. I've been worrying about him ever since I left home."

"Oh?"

"What did you leave home for? If you were as worried as you say, then why didn't you stay?" Shigure asked curiously.

Setsuna shook her head slowly. "I couldn't stay home anymore. Things became unbearable due to my father's work. If I had stayed, I would probably have been killed at some point. And going to my mother was out of the question because she had a new family. I couldn't be selfish and put them at risk..."

"You talk as if you got into trouble of some sort and left to prevent your family from being targeted." Akisame said thoughtfully and was a little bit amused when the woman lifted her hand and waved it in front of his face to make sure that he really was blind.

He reached out and absently grasped her hand and pushed it down while she scowled at him. "Are you sure that your blind?"

She finally asked as she tried to pull her hand free from his grasp. Akisame smiled and after a several tugs, let go of her hand and said. "I assure you, I _am_ blind. But please continue with your story. You said something about your father and how he dragged you into something-"

"He didn't drag me...anywhere. He threw me to the wolves for several grand and then signed a contract stating that I could be used in any way that the buyer saw fit."

"That's horrible! Didn't he care at all what happened to you?" Kensei practically yelled, everyone turned their heads to look at him and he put his hands over his mouth and settled back down.

"Probably not. My dad wasn't the kindest person, nor was he the most caring. He would have sold his own mother if he could have gotten a good price for her."

"With a father like that it's no wonder you left."

"Does Kenichi know of what your father did?" Kensei asked. Setsuna shook her head no and looked down at her watch to see what time it was and muttered something under her breath as she stood up.

"Sorry to cut our visit short but I need to get back home-" Everyone groaned and looked crestfallen for a second as she hurriedly said, "My daughter is probably on her way home from school by now. Could one of you maybe give me direstions to Sakarai Street?"

"You have a daughter!" Apachai said excitedly, his face morphing to a daydream like look before he was elbowed in the stomach by Shio as Akisame got to his feet and said cheerfully.

"Sakarai Street, hm. How fortunate I was planning a little outing so I can walk you home, Miss Setsuna." Setsuna looked at him with a funny look on her pretty face and for a second looked like she'd like to run but seemed to think better of it as Akisame held out his hand and waited fro her to take it. She glanced at the others with a worried expression on her face and bit back a whimper as she reached out and took his wrist in her hand.

The action must have startled him because one second every thing was fine and the next her wrist was dislocated and Akisame had a look of comical horror on his face.

Akisame inwardly cringed as soon as he realised what he had just done. He wasn't into the habit of dislocating the limbs of innocent bystanders but for some reason he hadn't been able to supress his reflex enough to spare her.

He supposed that it was because he had expected her to take his hand instead of his wrist since the only people who ever grabbed him there were _thugs_ and _challengers_ itching to fight him.

Still doing this to a guest- especially to a woman- was more than a little bit strange of him since he was normally so controled. And it didn't exactly solve the current problem. Which was why he snapped himself out of his funk and quickly and deftly snapped her wrist back into place hoping that she hadn't noticed the pain yet.

She had. He could 'see' it in her expression as well as hear it when she let out a long strained sounding hiss. "Sorry about that. I didn't expect you to grasp my wrist like that and acted on reflex out of habit. Are you alright?" Akisame said as he forced her to move her wrist a little bit to make sure that he hadn't accidentally broken it.

"I'm fine-" Setsuna said as she pulled her arm from his grasp and hooked one of her fingers around his and said, "Just try to refrain from doing that again." Akisame tilted his head to the side a little bit trying to figure out if she was upset with him or not. Her tone was still a little bit strained but that was probably because she was hurting.

Outside of that she didn't seem angry or anything.

But just to be sure he decided that it was in his best interest to be on his best behavior and convey how badly he felt about dislocating her wrist like that as much as humanly possible. "Yes of course... Sorry..." He said as he let her lead him towards the gate by his fingers and absently waved to the others before following her out of the yard.

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Shio, Shigure, Apachai and Kensei all watched the two with startled looks on their faces.

It wasn't like Akisame to hurt a woman even a little bit and they were all trying to explain away why their friend had reacted to Setsuna grabbing his wrist like she had. So far the only answers that they could come up with was 1) She had really startled him and 2) Maybe- just maybe the girl had caught their friend's fancy and he wasn't sure how to react to what he was feeling.

"Nah. Can't be-" Shio said after a moment or so. "Akisame doesn't develop crushes or date. I doubt that he's ever had a girlfriend before in his life. He tends to avoid women aside from Miu and Shigure."

"True. But have you ever seen Akisame willingly offer his hand to someone?" Kensei asked curiously. Shio thought about it for a second and shook his head.

Akisame had never offered his hand to anyone. Not even his closest friends. In fact they found it a little strange that he would even bother to offer his hand to anyone since he didn't need to touch someone to show them where they were going. It just wasn't his style.


	9. Chapter 9

Akisame wasn't a monk. Or a preist. Or a _saint_ despite the disciplined way he lived his life, he did in fact enjoy the pleasures a woman's body could give. And he also enjoyed giving pleasure in return.

However he had very strict rules, morals and an even stricter code of ethics that prevented him from enjoying those things often. Unlike Kensei, and Shio he preferred to pick and choose his lovers _carefully_.

He couldn't afford to let just _any_ woman sink her claws into him.

He was waiting for someone specific. As odd as it sounded, he was waiting for _the one_. The woman that he would fall in love with, marry and start a family with. Why else would he choose to live such a solitary life a Ryozanpaku? Despite being surrounded by so many strange and interesting people.

He had been waiting thirty years for _the one_ to appear. And despite all of the time that had passed he still had absolute faith that his future bride would somehow find her way to him.

Which was why the appearance of Kenichi's sister Setsuna had seemed to shake him up a little bit. Sure the fact that Kenichi had another sister was a little bit _rattling_ in itself. After all the boy was a walking, talking accident waiting to happen as it was. And his little sister was little better.

Yet Setsuna seemed to be the total polar opposite of both of her siblings.

She was quiet and troubled, yes. But she was also very intellegent, well spoken- She was highly educated and well mannered. And after what had happened earlier with her wrist Akisame was under the impression that she herself at one point had been a martial artist. A damn good one too if the way she had reacted to the pain in her wrist was any indication at all.

And knowing that intrigued him greatly. Which was why he had volunteered to take her home. He wanted to know as much about her as he could. It was simply a part of his nature to be so curious.

They walked in silence a good block in a half before Akisame finally asked, "You mentioned having a daughter before. Does that mean that you're married?"

He sensed rather than felt her steps falter a little bit as she turned her head to look at him, her grip on his wrist slackening a little bit. "Wh-What? N-No. No. No-" Akisame's lips curved up in a small amused smile.

"Are you a widow?"

"What?" She asked in a slightly irritated tone before hissing. "No."

"Do you have a boyfriend? Someone to help you raise your child?"

"No. Why are you asking such personal questions?"

Akisame shrugged his shoulders. "I'm curious about you. You are my desciple's sister after all."

Setsuna stared at Akisame for a moment, a calculating look on her pretty face. "What you mean to say isn't that I'm Kenichi's sister. What you mean to say is that Kenichi doesn't talk about me and none of you knew that he had another sister that was MIA."

"There is that. Then there is the fact that you mentioned being in trouble when you were younger but from the way you spoke, you sounded as if you were still in trouble. I'm curious about what that trouble you mentioned is about. And why after nine years it's not blown over yet. Would you tell me?"

"No. Because those things aren't anyone's business. Not yours. Not Kenichi's. Not my mothers... _No one_."

"I think it's admirable that you wish to take care of things yourself, Miss Setsuna-" Akisame said as he reached out and wound a strand of her dark hair around his fist and grinned when she smacked his hand once, twice- He unwound her hair from his hand and then dropped it back to his side. "However if you are _still_ in trouble; you need to tell someone otherwise you'll have no one to look for you if you get in over your head." Akisame said sagely as they started to walk again.

"I won't get in over my head. I know exactly what I'm doing and whom I'm up against." Setsuna said as she looked around trying to figure out where they were and paused when she saw her house just up ahead of them a little ways.

"Hey that's my house!" Setsuna said excitedly as she let go of Akisame's wrist and ran ahead of him a little ways and paused outside of the fence and then threw her hands up in the air and cried, "Uzu-baby!" Just as a small black and lavender blur ran up to her.

"Mommy!" Uzu shrieked as her mother scooped her up and kissed her cheeks happily before spinning her around then hugging her as Akisame walked up and stopped a foot or so away form the two and observed them. Setsuna it seemed was a very loving and doting mother to the little girl curled up in her arms, playing with her hair.

The little one looked at him over her mother's shoulder, a curious expression on her little face before she pushed herself back a little bit in her mother's arms and asked, "Mommy, who's that man?"

Akisame smiled at the child. Not the least offended about being called, That man. Setsuna looked at him and then set her daughter down and said gently. "This is Mr. Akisame. He was nice enough to make sure that I got here in time to meet you before you got scared."

"Oh. Hello Mr. Akisame-san."

"Hello little one." Akisame said politely as he leaned down a little bit and put a hand on top of her head and ruffled her dark shoulder length hair then straightened his spine and stuffed his hands into his pants pockets and looked at Setsuna with an almost awkward look on his face.

"Well, I suppose that since your home then I should go now." Akisame said before looking around and then rubbing the back of his neck then awkwardly asked, "Before I go. Did you happen to notice which way we came from?"

Setsuna blinked at him then started to lift her hand and point but stopped herself when she recalled that he was blind and made a small frustrated sound in the back of her throat and grabbed his wrist and pulled him into her front yard and growled. "I'll let you use the phone and see if your friends will come and get you."

"That's all well and good. But what will you do if they refuse?"

"I'm not keeping you." Setsuna said roughly. Ten minutes and one phone call later, she found herself saddled with one very strange house guest and wasn't sure if she should laugh, cry, or bang her head on something hard until she lost consciousness.


	10. Chapter 10

Akisame was proud of himself and his long shot plan to get to know Setsuna better. It wasn't often that he resorted to manipulation and outright lies to get what he wanted. But in this case he had felt that there was no other alternative.

His curiousity just seemed to be running away with him.

He sat in the living room listening to the sounds of the house as Setsuna moved around what he could only assume was the kitchen due to the fact that he could hear pots and pans being moved around. He heard the slight sound of tiny feet across the floor and tilted his head a little bit as the owner of those tiny feet stopped a few feet from him for a second then started to awkwardly tip toe across the floor to his left.

Amused by the child and her antics he waited until she was right in front of him before he reached out and swooped the child up and hung her upside down with one hand while he tickled her stomach with the other.

The child shrieked with laughter and squirmed like mad in an effort to escape his grasp. However Akisame didn't let go. Nor did he relent in his tickle attack until the girl was twitching and wheezing.

Then he set her down on the floor at his feet and waited to see what she would do next.

Uzu lay on the floor pretending to be dead for a few seconds so that she could catch her breath before she pushed herself up and sat back on her heels and looked up at the strange man that her mother had brought home.

Mr. Akisame was a very handsome man in Uzu's opinion. He had nice features. Pale milky white/blue eyes, dark shoulder length hair. He sort of remined her of her favorite cartoon super hero.

Not only that but he seemed like a decent fella. Maybe her mommy had finally decided to find herself a nice guy and settle down. Uzu smiled at the whimsical thought of one day coming home from school and finding that she had a father.

She hoped her mommy liked super heros cause Mr. Akisame looked like he belonged to the Justice League or something. He just had this weird vibe about him that was both comforting and scary. Uzu knew that feeling all to well since it was the feeling that she got from her mommy sometimes.

"What are you so happy about? Hm, little one." Akisame asked out of the blue pulling Uzu from her thoughts.

She tilted her head back and flushed when she saw that Mr. Akisame was leaning down a little bit so that they were face to face, a mischievous grin curving his lips as he waited for her to answer him.

"N-Nothing!"

"Uh-huh. I believe you. Your not thinking anything along the lines of 'I wonder if he's going to be momma's boyfriend.' or 'Is he going to be my dad?'" Uzu made a funny little sound in the back of her throat and shook her head and squeaked when he grasped her around the waist and picked her up and set her on his knee and said very somberly.

"If you have questions about why I'm here then you should feel free to ask them."

"But I don't have any questions." Uzu said as she squirmed a little bit. He laughed softly but didn't say anything for a moment then asked.

"Well then lets try this. If I had questions, would you answer them for me as best as you can?" Uzu considered his words for a moment then nodded her head innocently.

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Kenichi had just returned to the dojo and finished helping Miu put the groceries away and was leaving the kitchen to go lock himself in his bedroom like he had been doing when he noticed Sakaki standing just outside of the room. Looking like he was waiting for something.

"Hey Kenichi. Feeling better?" The street fighter asked curiously as the teen stepped out of the kitchen and gently closed the door behind him.

Kenichi gave his master a blank look and said nothing as he started to walk past the man when Sakaki said, "I bet I know what's bugging you now." Kenichi paused in mid step and glanced at the man over his shoulder as Sakaki grinned at him as Kenichi gave him a cold look.

"We had a visitor earlier. A nice pretty little lady by the name of Setsuna-"

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Akisame set Setsuna's daughter's feet on the floor and waved at her as she took off running to wash her hands and change out of her school clothes so that she could eat dinner without getting her clothes dirty and frowned. Talking to the child had been an eye opener for Akisame. The little girl had told him such intresting things about their lives.

Apparently Setsuna was in trouble with some very, _very_ shadey characters whom have been stalking her and her daughter for quite some time. In the past two years they had had nine robberies, five shootings (both at their home and at Uzu's school). Uzu had been kidnapped once and had been able to tell Akisame about some of the things that had happened when her mom had come after her.

Akisame couldn't exactly say that he had expected Setsuna to actually go after her daughter's kidnappers but then again he didn't know much about a mother's instincts to protect her baby. So maybe her reaction had been warranted.

Granted he'd been a mite _surprised_ to hear that she had actually murdered three of Uzu's kidnappers then set fire to the abandoned building that they were in before going home. But again, he knew very little about a mothers instincts. So as far as he knew those deaths had been totally justified to Setsuna because the men had been threatening her child.

Uzu had told him that her mommy had been involved in several life thratening accidents and had told him in detail that her mother had been shot. Stabbed in the chest and in the lower back. She'd been in a car accident where her brakes had gone out while she had been driving to pick Uzu up from school and had lost control of her car and ran off of the road and ended up in a lake where she had nearly drowned-

And as much as Akisame wanted to shrug off all of the information as simply a child's over active imagination there was simply too much detail into the descriptions of the incidents for him to do so. Which meant that Setsuna hadn't been lying when she had said that she had gotten herself into trouble.

But what really bugged Akisame was the fact that she seemed to down play just how much trouble she was really in. And that could cause her to underestimate the people after her and get her killed.

And he didn't like that. He didn't like that one little bit.


	11. Chapter 11

I felt a little bit inspired after talking to a new friend, King Kubar about this fic.

So I went ahead and updated.

I worked really hard on it and my buddy Cha is always helping me to make sure that I get it right.

Hope that you like it.

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Kenichi took a step towards him as Sakaki continued to speak, not really paying attention to the fact that Kenichi's movements were a warning. "She said that she was looking for her brother. I think she wanted to explain some things to him, but he wasn't here. Anyways we had a nice little chat and she was kind enough to tell us why she thought her brother was upset and acting like a wuss-" Kenichi took another small step towards his master as Miu came out of the kitchen.

"Sakaki what are you going on about?" She asked curiously as she closed the door to the kitchen and cocked her head as she looked up at the street fighter. Sakaki grinned down at the blond.

"I'm talking about Kenichi's sister."

"Honoka-chan?"

Sakaki shook his head no. "No. No. Kenichi's _older_ sister. Ya know, the one that he's been keeping a secret from us because he's ashamed-_Ooof_!" Sakaki's sentance was cut off right there when Kenichi caught him by surprise and punched him so hard that not only did it force the air from the man's lungs but it also sent him crashing through the kitchen wall before the teen bared his teeth and _snarled_ at his fallen master.

Then turned and stomped off as Kensei, Shigure, Apachai and Miu's grandfather all came out of a room down the ways a little bit and stared wide eyed at the boy as he passed while behind him Miu screamed and went to go see if Sakaki was okay.

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Kenichi entered his room in building where the masters slept and slammed the door not once, but nine times. Each time more violently than the time before, before it broke. He couldn't believe Sakaki had the gall- The sheer _audacity_ to suggest that he was ashamed of his sister!

He _loved_ his sister! Both of them. Unconditionally. And he would continue to do so for as long as he lived!

So what if she was probably a killer. His masters were killers and they were maybe the nicest people (and the strangest) that anyone could ever hope to meet. So what if Setsuna had disappeared without a trace and he had spent the past nine years looking for her in every nook, cranny, hospital, morgue, warehouse, building, shop- in the whole damn city.

So he had looked for her in every face that he had passed on the street since the night of her disappearance. So what if he'd been worried sick about her and was a little bit _pissed_ that she hadn't even had the decency to drop him or the rest of the family a goddamn line to let them know that she was alive and well!

_So what._ Kenichi knew his sister enough to know that she had her reasons for everything. He just wished that she trusted him enough to tell him what everything entailed. He sighed and flopped down on his bed and grabbed his pillow and buried his face in it and jumped a little bit when he heard the elder master's booming voice shout from the main house.

_**"SAKAKI HAS BEEN KILLED! EVERYONE SCRAMBLE TO AVENGE HIS DEATH!" **_

Kenichi sighed and pushed himself up and got off of his bed and knowing what would come next might mean his actual honest to god funeral if he stayed, he promptly slipped out the window and disappeared before any of his masters could find and get their hands on him.

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Akisame felt a little bit out of place with the domestic scene he observed between Setsuna and her daughter from where he was standing outside of Uzu's bedroom. He'd just gotten out of the shower and pulled on the sweat pants that Setsuna had given him to change into while she washed his dirty clothes.

And had heard the soft drone of her voice and followed it down the hall to a small bedroom decorated in pinks, lavender purples and pale blues with stuffed toys, coloring books, dolls and other various things strewn about the room and paused to see what the woman was doing.

Setsuna sat in a reclining position on her daughter's bed with little Uzu curled up in her lap and a book in her hand and she was reading to the girl while absently playing with her soft hair while Uzu tried to keep herself awake. But was losing.

Akisame smiled a little bit in amusement as the child would start to slump over against her mother then jerk herself awake with a wide eyed look on her face. He stood there watching for what must have been twenty minutes feeling a little bit like a peeping tom yet couldn't seem to pull himself away from the door to give the mother and child their privacy, when Uzu finally went to sleep.

Setsuna read a few more lines from the book then looked down at Uzu and grinned as she softly closed the book and set it on the small bedside table and shifted Uzu in her arms as she got up off of the bed and pulled back the covers and then put Uzu down and tucked her in then silently walked across the room and slipped out the door as Akisame stepped back to allow her some room and was silent for a moment as she pulled the door closed behind her.

"You're very good with her." Akisame said softly as he leaned his back against the wall.

"I should hope so since I carried her for nine months." Setsuna said lightly as she turned to look at him and sucked in a breath as she caught sight of him. Good lord. The man had more muscle on him than she had originally assumed despite his lean frame.

He had a nice body. Not too muscular, not too wimpy or weak. He'd found the perfect medium for someone of his height, weight, and build. And the effects were phenomenal. Honestly she couldn't tear her eyes away from him.

And her hands were starting to itch like they always did when she wanted to touch something.

_Behave yourself! You aren't a teenager anymore-_ Her mind hissed as she curled her fingers until her hands were fisted at her sides. She was a mother now for christs sake! She couldn't start randomly dating or doing anything that could put someone else at risk or cause her to drop her guard. She had too much to lose.

Akisame made a humming sound and wanted to say something else but couldn't think of anything to say. So he simply held his tongue and followed her back down stairs when she started walking. "I'm sorry that I don't have any guest rooms to put you in but at least I have a pull out couch..."

"That's fine. I wasn't expecting much in the way of accomidations since I more or less was forced on you for the night." Akisame said as he followed her into the living room and stood in the door way while she pulled out the fold out bed and fixed it up so that he would have clean sheets and pillows to use. She needn't have bothered trying so hard to be hosptable.

He knew that his presence irritated her. Besides he wouldn't be sleeping tonight anyways since he had trouble sleeping in strange places other than the Ryozanpaku dojo. He would however be going through her home, and some of her things in an effort to figure out who was after her so that he could arrange to have someone watch her. Or maybe arrange to have some time off from his clinic so that _he_ could watch her himself.

Whatever was convenient.

She finished with her task and straightened her spine and looked over at him and opened her mouth to say something but stopped herself and closed her mouth and shook her head. Akisame chuckled, knowing what she was going to say and why.

She was probably going to apologize to him for deciding to call it a night at barely eight o'clock in the evening but Akisame understood that her schedual was probably a hectic one. What with having to wake up early, cook breakfast for (three) people tomorrow, then walk her daughter to school. And then him to the dojo before she returned home to get ready for and went to work doing whatever it was that she did.

Then having to come home one last time to wait for Uzu-chan and cook dinner and do it all over again. The mere thought was enough to make _his_ head spin. And it called to mind one of the main questions that had been bothering him since earlier.

Where was Uzu-chans father? And _why_ wasn't he here helping Setsuna raise the precious little tyke sleeping upstairs?


	12. Chapter 12

"Well, I guess I'm calling it a night..." Setsuna said awkwardly as she started to brush past him.

Akisame figured that this may be his only chance to get her to answer at least one of his questions about her and reached out at the last moment and stopped her by gripping the back of her shirt, down around the small of her back. She stopped automatically and he inwardly smiled a little bit at her conditioned response.

"Before you go to bed Set-hime. Would you mind at least answering one of my earlier questions honestly?"

She turned to look at him, her expression blank despite the noticable look of fury in her pretty eyes. "Why?" She asked in an eerily calm tone of voice as she reached out and gripped his wrist and shockingly enough; forced him to let go of her by digging her thumb into a pressure point in his wrist.

He bit back a grin and rubbed the sore spot once she let him go and then said innocently. "Because I'm one of those strange people that are kept awake at night by random thoughts. Sure I could just let it go, but if I did I'd spend all night tossing and turning and then sooner or later I'd get sick and collapse and then-"

Setsuna shut him up by covering his mouth with one hand while pinching the bridge of her nose with her free hand and growling. "Enough! Fine! I'll tell you." Akisame put his finger tips against her arm and lightly pushed her arm down as he waited expectantly.

She was quiet for a moment or so as she dropped her hand back to her sides and wrapped her arms around herself and for a moment- Just one small moment Akisame saw a glimpse of the person she must have been when Kenichi knew her.

She looked so young and _vulnerable_ that it was all he could do not to pull her into his arms and hold her.

What was going through her mind right now? He wondered as she chewed on her bottom lip for a moment then looked up at him and said. "He's dead." There was such a lack of emotion behind the two words that Akisame almost grabbed her and shook her.

"How?" He asked curiously and was a little bit surprised when she thinned her lips and got a stubborn look on her pretty face as she slowly shook her head no.

"You only wanted one question answered. That was it. I'm going to bed now. _Goodnight_ Akisame-san." She said quietly as she turned and all but ran away from him. Akisame stood there for several minutes simply staring at the empty space where she had been, wracking his brain, trying to think of a way to get more answers.

He moved around the living room while he thought to kill some time. Waiting until the clock struck twelve in the a.m. before he bothered to leave the living room on his information gathering quest.

He stopped by Uzu's bedroom first to make sure that she was sound asleep. Leaving a little glass of water on her bedside table, on top of her book, for her to drink if she woke up at any time feeling thirsty then moved on to Setsuna's room to check on her.

Being that he thought she was a former martial artist, he was perhaps a little over cautious about things when he slipped into the woman's room to make sure that she was asleep.

He made sure to hide his presence. His steps were so stealthy that even his clothes didn't make a sound when he walked across the room and silently closed the window that she had left cracked when she went to bed. After that was done he turned his attention to studying her room, noting that it was decorated in a few finger paintings that she'd had framed.

A few pictures of her and her daughter on the holidays. But what really caught his attention was a small tattered and torn picture of a little boy with wide laughing brown eyes and a playful smile. The boy was obviously Kenichi as a child, dressed in a pair of shorts and a white t-shirt with one bandaid on one of his little legs. He was standing next to a girl about ten years old wearing a school uniform and holding a kendo sword slung across her slender shoulders. Her dark hair was shorter than it was now.

The soft strands just barely reaching her shoulders and curled under at the tips.

She had a bandaid on her left cheek, similar to the one that Kenichi always wore on his left cheek, and she had a small black and white badge with a yin yang symble on it, attached to the collar of her school shirt. Also similar to the one that Kenichi always wore.

Akisame must have stared at the picture for at least ten minutes trying to think of what sort of relationship the two must have had once upon a time. When Setsuna shifted and rolled over on the bed several feet away, drawing his attention from the picture to her as she muttered in her sleep. "Dammit Akisame, you better get out of my friggin room..."

Akisame's eye brows disappeared under his bangs as her words reached his ears. Well, _well_, it wasn't often that someone told him to get out of their room while they were sleeping. Sure it happened from time to time with Kensei and the other masters.

Usually around the time of their annual prank war.

But he had _never_ had someone outside of the dojo (not even Kenichi or Miu) sense his presence in their sleep, when he had it hidden, and tell him to leave their room before. So to say that Akisame had a stronger interest in Setsuna than before, would be an understatment.

The woman sparked ideas in his mind that were best left alone.

He left her room after stopping by her dresser and grabbing something that looked suspisciously like a journal and then made his way back to the living room to read a little bit.

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Akisame leaned back in his seat and set the journal down across his legs and made a frustrated sound in the back of his throat. He'd been sitting in the living room reading everything that had been written in the little lavender and teal butterfly covered note book for what felt like forever and while he had a better idea of _some_ of the trouble Setsuna had gotten herself into, he still didn't know everything.

Though he had gleaned from some of the passages that the people out to get her weren't _exactly_ after _her_. No. They were after someone else. Someone that held much more importance than Setsuna herself.

Setsuna had merely inserted herself firmly between the people after that 'other' person and had been acting as a _bodyguard_ or _shield _for some reason. Not only that but the people after that 'other' person were yakuza hired by someone with a considerable amount of wealth and power.

He sighed and rubbed his eyes then dropped his hands and glanced at the clock hanging on the wall to his far left and noted the time. It was five thirty seven in the morning and he had barely scratched the surface of things.

It was frustrating to say the least. He picked up the journal again and started to read where he left off. He'd say this for the woman sleeping upstairs, she left out very few important details about what she was writing about. She dated each entry, gave as much detail about her thoughts and feelings as she dared.

She named cities, towns, some people. But none of them were terribly important.

They were merely acquaintances that she had made in various places. The more important stuff wasn't mentioned much in detail.

She didn't mention _what_ yakuza gang was after the person that she was protecting. She didn't mention _why_. She didn't even mention the person his/her self. She hinted at_ who_ the person behind the assassination attempts was. But never really said his/her/their name or names.

She merely called that person 'Bastard' and while Akisame found that just a little bit amusing it was also terribly irritating to get so far and yet not learn anything at all.

Though he had learned that the father of Uzu-chan was in fact _dead _like she had said. And now he understood why she had balked at not telling him how the man had died. He'd read about the incident earlier in agonizing detail.

Setsuna herself had killed him in an incident that both _was/wasn't_ considered self defense the night that she had disappeared.

And the fact that she had felt the need to kill him broke a small part of Akisame's heart. He was about twenty pages further in when he heard the faint sound of an alarm clock beeping upstairs and marked his page and quickly hid it some place where she wouldn't find it. Deciding that if he was going to help her, that it was best that he kept the journal for the time being and passed it on to Kenichi since Setsuna was his sister and he would need to know these things too.

He heard the faint sounds of stirring movement from her room and quickly got up out of his chair and walked over to the fold out bed and flopped down on it and rolled around a little bit to mess up the sheets and make it look like he had slept there all night as Setsuna came down the stairs dressed only in a large long sleeved white cotton shirt that slipped off of one slender shoulder.

Akisame raised his head from one of the pillows a little bit and looked at her for a second before she disappeared into the kitchen before burying his face against the pillow and making a half moan, half groaning sound.

_Wow._ She had looked- She had such long legs- His hands were itching to- _Oh dear god._ She had just looked- _wow_. He suddenly wished that he could stay a few nights longer and made a mental note to get lost in her neighborhood at least every three or four days just so that he could see her in her nighty when she woke up.


	13. Chapter 13

Setsuna's morning had started off less than ideal.

To start with she had forgotten that Akisame was in her house and had worn nothing but her hip length sleeping shirt downstairs to make breakfast and upon turning around half way through cooking the morning meal, she had turned and seen Akisame standing in the kitchen door way staring at her with his sightless eyes while biting back a yawn. And had immidiately flushed and scamped upstairs to get some clothes on after asking him to watch the food to make sure that it didn't burn.

She'd run up and then grabbed a pair of worn jeans and a clean shirt.

After that she had woken Uzu up and helped her get ready for school. Reminding her to brush her teeth, and then comb her hair then had attempted to fix her squirmy and impateint daughter's hair then in a slight fit of irritation had switched from trying to braid Uzu's hair to spiking half of it up into a mohawk and then swatted her gently on the bottom and growled at her to go get her shoes, books, and then to go down stairs to eat.

Akisame had done a wonderful job of keeping their food from burning. Something that she was so very thankful for since she might have gotten distracted and burned the eggs, bacon, toast and pancakes anyways.

After that Setsuna had made arrangements for Uzu to be picked up by the school bus and had taken her outside and waited with her for the bus to come and pick her up before going back inside of the house and finding Akisame washing the dirty dishes while fixing a pot of coffee.

Once he was done the two of them sat down and had a cup or two of the strong black brew then Setsuna had collected their cups and set them on the kitchen counter, next to the sink and then had gone and collected Akisame's clothes and handed them to him and let him go change while she fixed up the folding bed to make it a couch again.

Shortly after that- The two of them left the house. Setsuna with a grocery list in hand and Akisame with her journal stuffed inside of his shirt.

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Kenichi stepped outside of the dojo gates feeling a little bit more like himself today. The bruises, cuts and soreness in his knuckles, arms and legs were a much needed, and _welcome_ feeling. Much like what had gone down last night after he had punched Sakaki through the kitchen wall.

It had been like world war three, four, and five all rolled into one.

Everything in the dojo and some houses, buildings, streets and other things outside of the dojo had been totally messed up in his knock down drag out fight with his masters. And though he had lost the fight when he had finally felt the dam in his mind burst and he had sank to the ground in front of Apachai and Miu's grandfather crying like a baby.

He still felt so much better than he had before.

He had even apologized to Sakaki for hitting him. Sakaki had said it was okay- That he shouldn't have pushed his buttons. But he had walked away after giving Kenichi the impression that his training later this evening after school was going to be _hell_ on the teen.

And that was fine by Kenichi.

He didn't care how stressful his training was today, he needed the sense of normalcy that it could bring him. He started walking in the direction of school and got at least to the corner before Takeda stepped out from the corner and fell into step one one side of him, a concerned look on his handsome face as he took note of the bruises on Kenichi's face and knuckles.

"You okay Kenichi? I heard from Nijima last night that some shit went down." The boxer said in an almost tentative tone as he looked the younger teen over. Kenichi looked up at him and smiled.

"I'm fine. My masters and I got into it last night and I got my ass kicked, thats all."

Takeda let out the breath that he had been holding and put one hand on top of Kenichi's head and ruffled his hair affectionately before Kenichi pushed his hand off of his head as Miu came running up behind them and joined them on their walk.

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Akisame was a little bit disappointed when his outing finally ended at his clinic, just around the corner from the dojo. He would have liked to spend an entire day just walking around with Setsuna and doing nothing. However he was a little bit satisfied with how things had gone so far.

He had her journal, some answers to his questions and he had gotten to observe her and her daughter in their own home. Gaining a bit more information about the girl and how she lived her life.

He stood in front of his clinic with the keys in one hand, facing her, trying to think of what he could say to her and not feel like an awkward youth. "Thank you for walking me home, hime. I enjoyed your company." He said honestly as he reached out and took one of her hands in his.

"Yeah, well, you're not bad company yourself." Setsuna said almost begrudgingly causing Akisame to smile in amusement as he lifted her hand to his lips and kissed her knuckles.

He felt her arm jerk, then her palm started to sweat a little bit. Amusing him further as she pulled her hand from his grasp and quickly escused herself and all but ran down the street. Leaving him standing there with a wide eyed look on his face before he laughed.


	14. Chapter 14

_Two hours earlier-_

_Natsu Tanimoto, a.k.a Hermit; hadn't botherted to go to school today. _

_He simply hadn't wanted to run into Kenichi and his buddies from the Shimpaku due to the fact that they pissed him off. No instead her chose to skip school and go trolling for fights. So far he hadn't had much success, but the day was still young. He was walking at a nice leasurely pace, five miles or so from the middle of town where he frequently came when he always got bored. _

_He was about to pass the place where he had met Honoka Shinahara, Kenichi Shinahara's baby sister for the first time and stopped for a second to look around as he relived his memories of that day with a small smile curving his lips. When he heard the familiar sound of someone that he was trying to avoid at all costs as Nijima stepped out from the corner of one of the department stores in his school uniform, his hand held computer in one hand, his backpack hanging from one of his shoulders. _

_"Ah Hermit. I knew that you'd be by here sooner or later." _

_Son of a bitch! Natsu thought almost frantically as he looked around to make sure that Nijima hadn't brought any of his fellow Shimpaku people with him and was only a little bit relieved to find that the guy seemed to be genuinely alone. _

_Nijima was (Kenichi's alien/demon) an manipulitive and annoying jerk whom was always causing trouble for the people around him. In short, Natsu hated him because he was a bastard._

_Natsu slowly turned his head to look at the shorter, scrawnier guy with a look of annoyance on his half hidden face. He growled as Nijima stood there with his hand held computer in his hands, typing something before he shut it and slipped it into his shirt pocket and then looked up at the irked two hundered and fifty pound, six foot two, martial arts master of the killing fist._

_"What the hell do you want alien freak?" Natsu growled at him as his fingers twitched. Nijima didn't seem to notice. Or if he did notice the slight movement, he simply didn't care. Although why he wouldn't care that Natsu was picturing his hands around the smaller guys skinny neck, strangling the life out of him was beyond Natsu._

_"Sticks and stone, boy, sticks and stones. As for why I came here, I was hoping that since you're no longer with Ragnarock, and are more or less a mercenary that maybe I could hire you for a job." Natsu stared at the teen like he had just grown another head for a second before catching himself and giving a scornful laugh._

_"Aww, is the widdle baby getting bullied?"_

_Nijima said nothing, he just stood there for a second letting Natsu laugh before shrugging his shoulders and turned on his heel and lifted a hand to his mouth and said in a loud voice that several people passing on the street around them heard. "Attention everyone! This hooded guy here is pathetic! He has more strength in his whole body than most people could ever hope to possess and yet he's a total wimp-"_

_Natsu stiffened where he stood and stared at the pointy earred freak in slack jawed disbelief. His mind too shocked to really register what his school mate was saying until the ever damaging words, "He's seventeen and he still wets the bed!" Left Nijima's lips. _

_If Natsu hadn't been so stunned by what Nijima had just said and done, he'd have murdered the fucker right there._

_Snapping out of his funk with a furious scream Natsu started to run at the smaller teen when Nijima turned and looked at him. Natsu froze again, his mind automatically awknowledging that something was really wrong with Nijima today. _

_He'd never seen the guy look so somber. So blank._

_He was normally laughing like a mad man and driving people crazy with his pranks. So seeing him like this disarmed Natsu's defenses a little bit. Shit. Was the guy actually getting serious for once about something? Natsu wondered as he let his head fall back on his shoulders, his black hood falling away from his semi long blond hair as Natsu lifted his head and looked at Nijima again and made a pissed off sound in the back of his throat then growled, "Fine! Tell me what you want and I'll let you know if you can afford me."_

_Nijima smiled a little bit and dug a thick yellow envelope out of his back pack and tossed it to Natsu._

_Natsu grabbed the envelope out of the air out of reflex and frowned as he curiously broke the seal holding it closed and peeked inside and then gaped in shock. Holy shit there had to be close to ten thousand dollars in the envelope! He pulled himself together and looked at Nijima curiously before asking, "Where did you get this kind of money?"_

_"I robbed a bank."_

_"Don't lie. You're too cowardly to pull something like a bank robbery off."_

_"So what? Does it really matter how I got it? That's merely the down payment for your services. Do the job that I'm hiring you to do, and I'll give you thirty thousand more." _

_Natsu was at a loss for words for a moment before sighing and running a gloved hand through his blond hair. "Alright. What's the job?" _

_"There's someone closely connected to Kenichi that I want you to observe and protect."_

_"Who?" Natsu asked curiously, suddenly interested in what the pointy eared devil had to say. All because Nijima had used Kenichi's name._

_"His sister-" Natsu's expression flickered a little bit, going from blank to slightly panicked then to angry all in the span of a millisecond. His mind racing. Honoka? Honoka was in trouble? Again? Why the hell couldn't that damn girl stay out of mischief?_

_And where the hell were her parents?_

_Natsu started to hand Nijima's money back to him, knowing what his job was now he would do it without being paid. But the alien simply shhok his head no and refused to take the envelope from him._

_Why? Natsu wondered. Why wouldn't he take the money back? Surely he knew that Natsu had a soft spot for the hyper active munchkin._

_"Natsu- I'm not talking about Hodnoka. I'm talking about Kenichi's older sister." Nijima said. Natsu looked at him like he was deranged as his mind reeled from the new information. As Nijima pulled out his little computer, started it up and then did something to the screen and then held it out towards Natsu so that he could see the picture on his screen._

_Natsu studdered in disbeielf as he stared at the picture or a young Kenichi clinging to the leg of a young girl with shoulder length dark hair and vivid turqoise eyes._

(*************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************)

Two hours later-

Setsuna walked into the grocery store and grabbed a basket and made her way to the back of the store as she pulled out her shopping list and quickly went over what she was going to be getting.

And then walked to the meat section and grabbed a few things of beef, two things of chicken, some crab meat, salmon, one thing each of large and small deveined shrimp. Some clams and then walked to a shelf a few feet away and grabbed a thing of wasabi sauce, soy sauce, cocktail sauce. Followed by some coconut breading for the shrimp, some lemons, green onions, and angel hair pasta.

Then moved towards the middle of the store to look at some other things before going to the front to pay for her things.

She'd finished her errands sooner than she had originally thought that she would and now that her grocery shopping was more or less out of the way she still had... She looked around the store and found a clock hanging on the wall above the door a good ten or so feet away and sighed.

_C-r-a-p._

She would still have another five hours or so until Uzu came home from school. She stood in line for what felt like forever when one of the people in front of her pulled a gun and pointed it at the cashier and said, "Your register. Empty it. _Now_."

Setsuna looked at the guy with an annoyed look on her face as she slowly set her basket down. Just because she had nothing to do for the next five hours didn't mean that she wanted to waste her time bitch slapping some maggoty little thug. She had better things to waste her time on.

Then again, if something wasn't done some innocent person might wind up getting shot.


	15. Chapter 15

Sakaki had just settled down for the moment to watch the evening news with Apachai and Shigure when they saw a report about a grocery store robbery that had occurred on their block. Sakaki turned up the volume a little bit and started to take a drink of his beer as the news station started to show footage from the robbery and what happened.

Sakaki spewed his beer as Apachai screamed, drawing the attention of Kensei and Akisame whom had just finished up in his clinic for the day. The two looked towards Sakaki and Apachai with curious looks on their faces before getting up and moving closer to see what had them acting so funny and _gaped_ at the vido image of Kenichi's sister, Setsuna stepping through a large shattered window and grabbing a man laying on the ground by his hair and then dragging the crying, kicking and screaming man off screen.

"Holy shit..." Sakaki sputtered in shock as he wiped some of the beer from his chin.

"W-Was that-" Kensei asked stupidly.

"Looked like-" Apachai said.

"Oh man." Shigure said.

"We shouldn't tell Kenichi-" Sakaki said suddenly, earning funny looks from the others as Akisame pinched the bridge of his nose and mentally swore. The next time he was by Setsuna's place he'd have to have a long talk with her about the importance of laying low.

_Especially_ when she was being hunted.

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He held the oxygen mask over his face as he watched the news, a faint cruel smile curving his lips as he watched the footage of the robbery. His heart thudded in his chest picking up speed as the machines next to him beeped out an irritating rhythm.

The girl in the footage looked exactly like that damn yakuza girl. The one that he had paid over one hunderd and fifty thousand dollars to impregnate with his twin brother's sperm at the secret facility that he'd had built years ago.

The girl was a little bit older looking, more mature. Her body no longer that of a lanky fourteen year old. And her eyes...

He had thought that she had such intense eyes before, but now- Now they were beyond intense. Her's were the eyes of a predator on the prowl. His attempts on her life these long nine years had made her _sharper_ than a normal person.

But then the girl had always been sharp to begin with.

She'd picked up on the strangeness of her pregnancy. The strangeness of how it had happened.

She had started paying closer attention to the comings and goings of her father's clients and had even met him and his twin brother a time or two when they had stopped by her father's home to see if her pregnancy was progressing normally.

They had taken great pains to moniter the health of the girl and her baby.

After all he and his brother suffered from a rare genetic disorder that had been slowly killing them. Without _new_ healthy organs, they would die.

But then everything had gone horribly wrong. The girl had found the contract that he and his brother had made with her father. The contract stating that upon the birth of the baby, it's organs would be harvested and used to save them. It hadn't mattered to them if the child died when it's organs were harvested.

All that mattered was saving _themselves_.

But then girl's maternal instinct had kicked in in an extreme way.

She had murdered her father, several of his lackeys, and then had murdered his twin brother. Which had worked out to his advantage a little bit since he had had his brothers organs harvested and put inside of him to buy him more time.

And now it looked like the little bitch had finally come back to town. This was perfect!

He could arrange an accident for her and then take her child and proceed with his previous plan to harvest it's organs. He took the mask away form his face and picked up the cell that his assistant had started to leave on his bed out of habit and opened it with shaky hands and pressed speed dial and one.

His assistant picked up on the first ring. _"Prime Minister-sama do you need something?"_

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Setsuna dropped the TV remote and gaped in utter shock and disbelief. She couldn't believe that she had _miscalculated_ so badly that she had forgotten that areas such as the one she currently lived in almost _always_ had video cameras in, outside, and around them. Just in case a crime occurred.

_How could I have forgotten something so important?_ She wondered as she focused on the footage being played and almost screamed in horror when she at one point, looked directly at the camera before leaving the scene.

_Oh dear god..._ Now because of this, not only would her mother and step father know that she was back in town but her enemy would also know. _And with this..my life is over. _Setsuna thought as her front door banged open causing her to jump as her daughter came inside and called out, "Mommy I'm home!"

She quickly tipped over the TV, smashing it into the wall and ran across the room and grabbed Uzu up as she started to enter the room and hugged her tightly. And for the first time in a long time, she felt genuinely scared.


	16. Chapter 16

Kenichi was training when the gate to Ryozanpaku swung open with such force that everyone in the old japanese style home came out into the yard. While Kenichi paused in mid motion to see what was going on and was more than a little bit _shocked_ to see his school mate Natsu Tanimoto storming across the yard towards him.

"You! Sneaky under handed son of a bitch!" Natsu snarled as he stopped a mere foot from Kenichi and put his hands on his hips and glared at the shorter teen.

Kenichi blinked at him and wondered what had Natsu so wound up as Natsu continued to rant. "How dare you hide the fact that you have another sister from me- Your mortal enemy! I could have kidnapped her and _used_ her to destroy you!"

Kenichi snorted then lifted a hand and waved it to get his attention then deadpanned, "That would never happen." He may not know Setsuna very well as she was now but he knew her enough to know that if Natsu tried to kidnap her or something-

She'd rip his beating heart out and eat it while he bled out. That was simply the sort of girl that she was.

"Don't be so doubtful Shirahara! If she's really your sister then she must be as weak and helpless-"

"No. No she is not."

"As Honoka-"

"Again. _No_. No she is not." Kenichi said as it occurred to him that both Honoka and Setsuna were similar in nature. He was sorely tempted to tell Natsu to go pay Setsuna a visit simply for the sake of having her sink her claws into him.

It amused him to think that she might eat him alive. Rhetorically speaking of course.

"And further more would make an excellent and effective tool to bring about your demise." Natsu growled at him. Kenichi sighed and hung his head for a second and tried to think of what he could say to let Natsu know that he was wrong.

The only thing that he could think of was to be truly blunt with his school mate and hope for the best. Lifting his head Kenichi took a step forward and put his hands on both of Natsu's shoulders and said in a somber tone.

"Listen to me and know that I'm perfectly serious about what I tell you. My sister is the most conniving, sadistic, calculating person that I know. Even _I'm_ afraid of her. And I don't mean in the conventional sense. That 'oh no my sibling is going to beat me up' sort of bullshit, _no_. I mean, she would flat out destroy me if our mother wasn't so attached to me. She fears nothing and no one, not even death. _You. Would. Not. Stand. A. Ghost. Of. A. Chance. In. Hell; if you cross her_."

Natsu made a pissed off sound and with a quick swipe of his hand smacked Kenichi across the back of the head then grabbed him by his belt and tossed him away from him and shouted. "I will destroy you Shirahara! And I don't care who I have to fuck up to do it!" Then ran across the yard and slipped out of the gate while Kenichi picked himself up off of the ground as Sakaki walked up and let out a low whistle.

"You okay Kenichi?" He asked, concern coloring his tone. Kenichi nodded his head.

"I'm fine." The teen said as he doubled over and dusted himself off before straightening his spine and then sighed.

"Should you maybe warn your sister that that kid is running loose?" Sakaki asked, concern coloring his tone. Kenichi considered his question for a second then shook his head no.

"Nah. Let the dumbass learn the hard way."

Sakaki looked down at him and raised his brows at him, surprise etched into his features. "Isn't that a little cruel, Kenichi? Especially after painting your sister in the light of a monster." Kensei said as he walked up. Kenichi looked at the shorter man and gave a humorless laugh.

"My sister _is_ a monster in her own way. And the sooner Natsu figures that out, the better off he'll be. Frankly I think it might be good for him to understand the true meaning of _fear_." Kenichi said before he walked off. Leaving his masters standing out in the yard, worried.


	17. Chapter 17

The next day-

Setsuna stood over the two men in ripped and torn suits, watching them bleed as she collected their guns, knives, and stun guns and tossed them over the bridge railing into the murky waters below then stepped over the two and picked up the small bag of sewing and kniting supplies and started walking. She couldn't believ how quickly that man's people had found her.

It had only been a few hours since the news report from the night before and she was already being attacked by people she wanted nothing more than to murder. She sighed tiredly as she walked down the street.

God, sometimes it just didn't pay to get out of bed in the morning.

However this morning Setsuna had had no choice but to get up and go to the store after sending Uzu to her friend's house for a three day sleep over before going shopping for some materials to mend a few of Uzu's clothes, and several toys and to knit Kenichi a sweater as an awkward sort of apology. For being so mean to him when they should be catching up on missed time.

She'd gotten more than enough yarn to knit him a blue sweater and maybe make one for herself so that they would match like they used too when they were younger.

She stopped walking and sighed at the nolstalgic memories that flooded her mind and was more than a little startled when her brother appeared before her, shirtless, wearing nothing but some sweat pants with a rope tied around his waist and a tire tied to the other end of the rope.

"S-Set-s-suna?" Kenichi stammered as his face flushed an peculiar shade of red as Akisame came walking out of the yard with a whip in his hand and looked at Kenichi for a second before noticing Setsuna.

"Ah Setsuna-hime, good morning." Akisame said cheerfully breaking the bizarre silence.

She looked at him strangely for a moment then looked up at the gate and made a funny sound before muttering something inaudable under her breath before lifting one hand and waving at them as she forced a small smile to curve her lips.

"Good morning."

"Did you get lost again?" Akisame asked curiously as he walked over to the tire and sat down on it. Setsuna snorted and shook her head no as Kenichi turned his head a little bit to give his master a slightly suspicious look.

"No. I was out shopping."

"Ah-" Akisame said in understanding before pointing at her and asking. "How did you get those bruised knuckles?"

"Freak accident. I banged my hands on something with cleaning the house yesterday." Setsuna said with a grin.

Both Kenichi and Akisame looked at her through narrowed eyes, looking very much like they wanted to call her out on her lie. But kept their opinions to themselves as Setsuna walked up to Kenichi and dug something that looked like measuring tape out of her bag and then set the bag down and said,

"Put your arms up."

Kenichi looked at her blankly for a moment. "W-What?" He asked stupidly, unsure about why he should raise his arms.

The last time she'd told him to raise his arms away from his sides, she'd tickled him until he had _wet_ himself than had announced his little accident to everyone around them on the school bus. That had been when he was in the fourth grade.

And he _still_ couldn't get on a school bus without wearing a paper bag over his head to hide his embarrassment.

"Raise your arms." Setsuna said again.

Kenichi started to shake his head no when he heard Akisame mutter in a tone of voice that chilled his blood. _"Do as she says or else." _Kenichi made a little whimpering sound and complied, sensing that very bad things would happen to him if he didn't.


	18. Chapter 18

Kenichi couldn't stop his nervous twitching as Setsuna measured his arms, the width of his shoulders, his torso exct; he felt like he was being measured for a coffin. Anyone would be twitchy and jumpy if they thought they were being measured for a coffin too. Right?

"Wh-Why are y-you me-measuring me?" He stammered when his parinoia finally got the best of him.

"Because." Setsuna said evasively.

"Because why?" Kenichi asked stupidly, not ready to drop the subject just because his sister had used an evasive maneuver on him.

"Because I _feel_ like it-" Setsuna replied cheerfully. Enjoying wantching her brother squirm as she mentally comitted his measurments to memory so that she could use them later and then put the tape away. "That's good, thanks Keni."

Kenichi dropped his arms to his sides and frowned at his sister as she picked up her bag and then looked at him and smiled. Kenichi's heart stuttered in his chest for a second as he caught sight of her smile. It was just like the last smile she had given him. Happy, content, and a little bit wistful.

It was still one of the most beautiful smiles he'd ever seen in his whole life. It was just sad that that smile was a part of such an _diabolical_ person. "You're not planning to off me for the insurance money are you?" Kenichi asked warily as Setsuna stepped up to him and leaned in a little bit like she was going to kiss him on the cheek and drew back a little when he asked her that.

She stomped on his foot, causing him to jump and yelp as she lifted her leg and nailed him in the stomach with her kee hard enough to double him over as the breath was forced from his lungs and then snarled at him.

"_Moron!_ I decide that I want to do something nice for you and you _dare_ to say such an insensitive thing! I could happily tie a rope around a brick and hang it around your neck and _push_ you into a mud puddle and stand there while you drown, you jerk!"

Kenichi wheezed in response to her violent outburst, completely missing the pained look that crossed her face as her eyes teared up. Unfortunately for him Akisame noticed those things before Setsuna turned and all but ran away from them.

"Ow. _Ow_..." Kenichi muttered when he was finally able to breathe again. Akisame watched Setsuna disappear around the corner a hundred or so feet away and sighed. God he had never in his life _seen_ such awkward siblings before.

And he'd seen Sakaki morph into a suit wearing, non swearing, alcohol free _pansy_ just for his sister.

He uncoiled the whip in his hand, drawing Kenichi's attention to him as he said, "New plan, lets switch out the scenery and go after your sister."

Kenichi gave him a curious look and was about to ask him why but Akisame beat him to it. "I suddenly want to see Uzu-chan." It was on the tip of Kenichi's tongue to ask his master why he would want to be anywhere near his violent tempered sister. But Akisame cracked the whip, jarring him from his thoughts before he could say anything and automatically spurring him into action afraid that his demonic master would skin him alive with the whip if he didn't get to his sisters place quick, fast, and in a hurry.

Kenichi ran down the street like a mad man, screaming all the way.


	19. Chapter 19

Setsuna was inside the house by the time Kenichi and Akisame reached their destination. Oddly enough not being able to see Setsuna before she went in, upset Akisame a little bit as he got up off of the tire and untied it from Kenichi's waist earning a slightly wary/curious look from his desciple. "What are we doing here? Shouldn't you be running me ragged right about now?"

"I told you. I want to see Uzu-chan."

Kenichi frowned as Akisame straightened his spine and tipped his head back to check the position of the sun to learn the time as Kenichi asked. "Who's Uzu-chan?" Akisame lowered his head and fisted his hand against his pants leg to supress the urge to reach out and smack his idiot student.

"She's your niece, fool."

"I seriously doubt that." Kenichi said automatically. Akisame gave him a look and the teen fell silent as they stood there waiting for...something. Ten minutes later a pale green car pulled up to the house and Akisame smiled and stepped forward as the front passenger door opened and the same little girl from the other day climbed out with a sleeping bag and a small back pack in hand.

"Same-san! Same-san! What are you doing here?" Uzu asked as she wrapped her arms around one of his legs and hugged him. Akisame chuckled and patted her on the head and gently closed the car door as the woman inside rolled down the window and asked in a cautious tone.

"Excuse me, but does Uzu's mother know the two of you?"

Akisame turned his attention from the child to the woman in the car. She had a cell phone hidden in one of her hands and was no doubt about to call Uzu's mother to verify that she knew them. Either that or she was about to call the police.

"Why yes. I spent the night with Miss Set-chan the other night." Kenichi turned his head and gave his master a look of comical horror as the woman nodded her head and said.

"Oh yeah. Setsuna told me about you." Akisame looked very surprised to know that Setsuna would tell someone about letting a strange man stay with her.

"Do I want to know what my hime said about me?" He asked in a half teasing tone. The woman in the car shook her head no.

"Probably not."

Akisame sighed and looked hurt. "How cruel of her to break my heart again." He said dramatically while Kenichi turned red and sputtered in shock. What the _hell_ was his master going on about? What did he mean when he had said that he'd spent the night with her? And what was this nonsense about her breaking Master Akisame's heart?

Didn't the demon _need_ a heart before it could be broken?

"Thank you for taking care of Uzu-chan!" Akisame said happily as he waved at the woman in the car as she drove away then turned to Uzu and grinned mischieviously and then picked the little girl up so that they were eye to eye and asked in a hushed tone.

"How would you like it if I stayed the night again?"

Uzu looked at him oddly for a moment then grinned and hugged his neck. "That would be fun! I could show you my book collection!"

"Really? I love books!" Akisame said excitedly before Uzu looked at Kenichi and her smile faltered.

Akisame looked at Kenichi curiously and saw the teen glaring at the little girl in an unfriendly manner and wondered what his problem was. Frankly Akisame didn't like kids much, but he certainly took a liking to little Uzu quickly enough.

He liked her childish innocence and curiosity. He found it interesting and fun.

Sort of like Apachai found Honoka, Kenichi's little sister, interesting and fun.

"Is he going to be spending the night too?" Uzu asked in a small voice.

"Yes dearest, I'm afraid so. He needs to talk with your mother. But I promise that he'll be on his best behavior or else I'll destroy him. Sound like a plan?" Uzu nodded her head solemnly. Akisame smiled at her and nuzzled her cheek then set her down and walked over to Kenichi and said in a serious tone.

"Kenichi, we're staying here for the night."

"Why?" Kenichi bit out from between clenched teeth as he continued to glare at Uzu. He ddin't want to be near his sister or her fake 'daughter' right now. He was worried that he might lose his temper and say something more hurtful to Setsuna about her lying.

"Because it's time you and your sister talked. It's also time for you to grow up and get to know your niece."

"That girl isn't my niece. And I'm not staying here."

"Oh? Then what are you going to do?"

"I'm going to leave." Kenichi said as he started to brush past his master and wasn't even a step away when he felt his master's fingers wrap around the nape of his neck and felt a painful jolt along his spine and crumpled to the ground gasping as his mind worked furiously to figure out what his master had just done to him.

"Sorry Kenichi, but if you run away now you'll regreat it for the rest of your life. So I've temporrarily crippled you from the waist down." Akisame said as his eyes did that weird glowing thing and he clapped his hands happily. Like a lunitic.

_"Are you insane?"_ Kenichi rasped as his body shook and twitched as he tired and tried to move his legs but couldn't. Akisame grabbed him by the back of his shirt and pulled him up off of the ground and slipped an arm around his waist.

"I'm not insane Kenichi. But I am concerned about your sister and Uzu-chan's safety."

"All well and good but you know once I can move my legs again... _I'm going to kick you so frigging hard._" Kenichi bit out as the three of them moved up the walk way to the house where Akisame rang the door bell and said cheerfully to Kenichi and Uzu.

"Look pitiful." Uzu automatically got the little puppy pout look on her face and Kenichi blanked his expression while planning his master's untimely demise as Setsuna opened the door and stared at them for a moment before her left eye twitched a little bit.

_What fresh hell is this?_ She wondered as Akisame said cheerfully. "Have you met my friend here? He's crippled. I'm defenselesss and Uzu wants to keep us."

As if sensing that that was her cue Uzu started jumping up and down and begging, "Can we keep them mommy? Can we, can we, can we, can we, can we?"

Setsuna sputtered as Her daughter bounced around in place looking like she could just cry if she said no. She looked at Kenichi who looked like a scarecrow. Totally void of expression. It was an look that she knew well.

Which meant that he was currently too busy planning someone's demise to show any expression.

Akisame on the other hand...looked rather _pleased_ with himself about the current situation. And she could have cheerfully murdered him right then and there for his part in this. "You're not staying." She growled at the man despite the fact that she found herself stepping back out of the door way so that he and her brother could come in.

Akisame nudged Uzu into the house then followed her in, carrying Kenichi with him.


	20. Chapter 20

Sorry that I haven't updated this in a while. I've been sitting with my grandmother all the time now.

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Akisame walked over to the couch and unceremoniously dropped Kenichi onto it and frowned when his body bounced then fell to the floor. If he thought being paralized was an excuse to lay around where people walked, he was sadly mistaken.

Uzu ran over to him and attached herself to his leg and he looked down and absently smiled and patted her on the head as she stared at Kenichi's prone figure laying on her mothers floor. "What's wrong with him?" She asked Akisame as her mother closed the front door and leaned back against it and quietly observed them.

Akisame sensed her eyes boring into his back as he answered Uzu-chan's question and then told her to go ahead and step on Kenichi if he got in her way.

All the while wondering what his _hime_ saw when she looked at him. Did she see how much he really wanted to be there with her and Uzu-chan? Or did she see someone who liked to torture her brother for fun?

Or did her keen eyes maybe see that he'd developed a bit of a crush on her and wanted to get to know her better? Maybe eventually settle down...

Uzu moved away from him and laid down on the floor next to Kenichi and started talking to the irked teen in that cute childish manner that all young children possessed, slowly but surely drawing the boy out of his stubborn shell.

Akisame bit back a snicker as Setsuna moved away from the door to go into the kitchen and he found himself following her so that they could talk without the kids around.

She was starting to pull a pot out of the cabinet when he grasped her wrist and stopped her then gently tugged to indicate that he wanted her to face him. She tried to slap him. She missed of course, but she still tried.

Not that it mattered since he managed to capture her other hand fairly easily and then lifted it up to his lips and kissed her palm- suddenly taking the anger and fury right out of her.

Ah good, now he had her undivided attention. "My friends saw you on the news last night-" He said as he lowered her hand away from his mouth so that he could speak to her unhindered and ran his thumb over the pulse point in her wrist to gauge her reaction.

He could feel her blood quickly singing through her veins, the soft frantic thudding of her heartbeat. He'd bet her face was pink or maybe red. He could imagine her mouth opening and closing before she made a huffing sound- damn, she was regaining her senses. He should have kissed her on the lips instead of the hand as she stammered out. "S-So?"

Was her voice a little bit shakey? He wondered with some sense of satisfaction. His _hime_ was just adorable when she got all defensive. "So aren't you... I dunno-" He paused for a second and shrugged his shoulders. "_Hiding _from someone or something?"

He couldn't see her face due to his blindness but he was pretty sure that she either had a panicked look on her face at the moment or a pissed look. Perhaps a combination of the two. "No. I'm not hiding-"

_No, you're blantantly inviting trouble to come to your door step. _Akisame thought darkly as she continued. "And even if I was, what business is it of your's?"

"None." _It is my business. I like you and you're daughter._

"Then why are you acting as if it is your business?" Setsuna asked in an irked tone.

"I'm not. I was merely going to tell you to be more careful. That's all." Akisame said gently as he let go of her hands and walked over to the table and pulled a chair out and sat down so that he could sit and pretend that he was watching her cook. It was his little way of exacting revenge on her for saying that_ she_ was none of his business.

That and he knew that it would set her teeth on edge. And to date he'd never been able to pass up an opertunity to do something that could push someone's buttons. It was just so much fun.


	21. Chapter 21

**_This story was in desperate need of updating. Sorry the chap is short but at least it's something._**

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True to her nature- ten minutes into starting dinner for herself, little Uzu-chan, and her two very unwanted guests- if the dark looks she'd been casting his way were any indication- Setsuna slammed the knife she'd been using to cut up vegetables down on the cutting board with more than what Akisame estimated to be enough force to split the board and damage the blade of her knife beyond repair as she then turned to him and hissed out, "Don't you have something more important to do?"

Akisame blinked at her. His expression the very picture of innocence when the two of them knew very well that he was trying to provoke her.

He smiled at her as he propped his cheek in the palm of his hand and replied easily, "Nope." Besides he was fascinated by Setsuna's movements around the kitchen. Call him crazy but when a martial arts master like him met a woman who could move with so much precision and care- well, he found that kind of hot. Almost as hot as finding a woman who could hold her own in a fight against him.

Which he was more than sure Setsuna could do if it really came down to it. He had no doubt that she'd fight dirty in the process, but he still believed that she could, and _would _do it. And that knowledge had him feeling more than a little hot under the collar so to speak.

Besides, Setsuna-hime wouldn't let him distract her for long. Uzu-chan would be upset if she didn't get her dinner.

Sighing Setsuna reached up and was about to start massaging her temples, she'd been fighting back a headache all day and had almost won the fight when Akisame and Kenichi's intrusion on her had brought the damn thing out full force. Which was such a pity since she'd likely be using the blind man for target practice later on- she closed her eyes for a moment and when she opened them again just as she felt another set of fingers gently moving on her temples, causing her eyes to fly wide to see Akisame standing in her personal space.

"Wha- What are you- When did you-" She sputtered as she tried to back away from him only to have him follow her back until she hit the counter and was suddenly trapped between it and Akisame's warm body. She made a distressed sound in the back of her throat and leaned back as far as she could causing him to sigh and mutter something under his breath before he took a step closer to her.

Setsuna's eyes got so big that they could have been mistaken for plates as she felt every hard muscle and plane on Akisame's body as it pressed into her own. "If you have a headache...you should take something for it." He said as he heard a little choked sound come from her and inwardly grinned. Ah, so this was his Set-hime's weakness. He thought in amusement, though he could find no fault with her weakness. Having an attractive man close at hand had been the downfall of many women.

Knowing that she found him to be attractive was just- well- it was difficult to explain. Even for one such as him. It was both exhilarating and terrifying. Kind of like playing chicken with a train, or russion roulette.

Shifting his hands so that they framed Setsuna's face, he decided to try a little experiment, and tipped her head just so and began to close the space between her mouth and his own. His mind spinning while part of it kept saying, Don't do this to yourself man. She'll push you away, while his heartbeat accelerated and his palms began to sweat a little bit. And briefly a thought crossed his mind in disgust, he was reacting as if he had never had a woman before- but the second his mouth touched her lips all thoughts fled and all that was left was instinct.

Pure, bold, passionate instinct to kiss her until her legs went weak and she wouldn't have the strength of mind to protest whatever he may or may not do next. He slanted his mouth over hers, catching the surprised gasp that tried to escape her lips a moment before his tongue slipped into the sweet, honeyed cavern of her mouth and he could taste her.

The pleasure of it was almost overwhelming and his mind practically screamed at him, _Take me. All of me. Accept me. Want me. Love me! _He kissed her until both of their lungs burned for air and he was finally forced to drag his mouth away from her lips so that they could both take enough ragged breaths to keep them from going into meltdown.

Akisame was the first to regain his composure and was about to tell Setsuna outright that he intended to have her when the two of them heard a little voice ask in a tone that sounded close to tears, "Mommy was Mr. Akisame eating you're face?"


	22. Chapter 22

'Guest'

Are you a retard or something? How many times do I have to spell this out for some of your readers? What I write is fiction. F-I-C-t-I-O-N. _Fiction._ It isn't real. None of it. And yet I get stupid remarks on how I need to do this and that- Again; It's fucking fiction! Pull your head/heads out of your asses and get a fucking reality check!

Better yet, seek medical help since you seem to think that every damn thing you read is real.

And leave me and the rest of the people who enjoy fiction (writing, reading, whatever-) alone.

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The moment the two heard that sweet little voice asking such an absurd question, it was like icy cold water had been spilled over their heads. Forcing them both apart almost violently, though Akisame didn't leave her personal space any as Setsuna looked at her daughter then at him then back at Uzu-chan, her expression shell shocked, her mind going over what had just happened and what she should do. She had hoped that she would never hae to explain 'adult relationships' while Uzu was still so young.

_Damn the man for kissing her_. She thought savagely for a moment. Just what the hell was she supposed to say to her daughter?

'Oh no, honey. No. Mr. Akisame wasn't trying to eat my face, he was just being friendly.' Yeah, like that wouldn't sound incredibly stupid. Besides her daughter had witnessed the two of them lip locked. Even if Setsuna tried to deny that there was something going on, it didn't mean that the little girl would believe her. She wasn't stupid, after all. Just...young.

Akisame remained silent as he tried to give Setsuna time to come up with something but it seemed as if she simply couldn't figure out what to say to Uzu-chan. Not that he could blame her any, he'd imagine that if Uzu-chan was his daughter and she had caught him lip locked with someone who was still basically a stranger, no matter how nice, he'd be feeling at a loss too.

Thankfully though, he had decided that Setsuna and her daughter would both become his family. Family. Hn, it had a nice ring to it. And god knew he loved the concept of coming home from his clinic each day to a wife and child waiting for him. Call him horribly old fashioned or even overly optimistic- But he he felt that every man should inevitably settle down with a good woman.

And Setsuna was nothing but a good woman. So she was related to Kenichi. So what? Every family had their black sheep, after all.

Deciding to take matters into his own hands, Akisame turned so that he was facing Uzu-chan and clapped his hands once to get her attention and said cheerfully, "Uzu-chan! You're never going to believe what your mother and I were talking about before you interrupted us..." Uzu gave him a blank look and he smiled knowing that what he was about to say would likely get him killed if he didn't move fast enough. But- he was willing to risk it. "Your mother and I were just talking about how much you need a father and perhaps a few siblings-" Sensing Setsuna's hand making it's way towards the cutting board and the knife on it he quickly snagged her wrist, and stopped her as he waited for Uzu-chan to reply.

But after a few heartbeats or so, with still no form of reply from the child- Akisame began to fear that perhaps his plan to back Setsuna into a corner and force her to accept him as a suitor for marriage was about to go up in smoke when he heard Uzu give this loud almost _painful _shriek of excitement as she came running over to him and wrapped her little arms around one of his legs and started to chatter away. "A daddy? A daddy! I've always wanted a daddy- You promise I'll get one! Where is he? What's he like? When will he get here?"

Thinking quickly Akisame smiled down at the child and placed his free hand on top of her head and ruffled her hair as he tightened his grasp on her mother's wrist a fraction so that she still couldn't escape his hold and grab the knife that she was so desperate to get a hold of. "Why, he'll be here sooner than you think. Lets say...about Christmas time. As for where he is and what he's like- he's somewhere close by and is a very nice person. That sound good?"

"Yes!" Uzu-chan shrieked again as she let go of his leg and was about to run out of the room, her excitement apparently too much to bear while staying still when Akisame called out,

"Hey, you never said anything about siblings! Do you prefer boys or girls? And how many do you want?"

"Both, and lots of them!"

"Lots?" Akisame said to himself as the child stopped just inside the kitchen doorway and looked at him with a grin and nodded.

"Yeah. Lots. Dozens and dozens!" Uzu clarified before running out of the room and leaving Akisame, for once, completely speechless for a moment before laughing softly and looking at a frazzled Setsuna and saying,

"Well dear. I'm up to the task if you are." Earning a loud 'What!' from the young woman as she once again resumed her efforts of trying to get a hold of that damned knife. Did she really think that this would go away if she stabbed- or killed him?

Honestly the naivete of some people, he thought as he grappled with her a little bit more before finally losing patience with her and grasping her free hand and spinning her so that she was away from the counter and somehow managed to half sprawl her onto her back on the kitchen table where he then pinned her hands on either side of her head and stared down at her, loving the feel of her warm breath ghosting across his skin with each rise and fall of her chest.

"Get off of me." She growled, earning a playful grin from him as he lowered his body just a bit until he was more or less resting on top of her on his elbows, his fingers laced together with her own as he stubbornly refused.

"Don't wanna."

""Do it anyways."

"No."

"Dammit what makes you think you have the right to come into my home a-and-" She stuttered to a pause when she felt him bury his face against her shoulder and turn his head so that he was facing her neck. "W-What are you doing?" She squeaked.

She felt his lips ghost over a particularly sensitive spot on her body and couldn't stop her body from trembling under the expert caress as she tried to maintain her senses. She didn't want this, She didn't want this, She didn't- _Oh dear god did he just nip at her skin? _She wondered for a brief second before her mind fizzled and went absolutely blank.

Akisame drew back the moment he sensed something amiss with Setsuna. She was no longer protesting or trying to struggle like she had been these past few minutes since he had pinned her. Her body was trembling, sure, but somehow he doubted that it was due to fear. After all, if she had been truly afraid she would have kicked, screamed, cried, begged him to leave her be even. But had done none of those things.

So he had no idea what was wrong with her. But he was going to find out once she regained her senses. And then the two of them were going to sit down and have a nice long chat about their future.


	23. Chapter 23

**Okay to some of you who are appalled by Akisame's behavior in the last chap- it's simple to explain. For starters, everything he knows about Setsuna is off. So it's kind of causing him to read things wrong. Yeah he likes her and all- but he thinks that she's an 'experienced' woman. He doesn't know that the story of how she became pregnant with her daughter and everything is covering up some darker themes. **

**Not...rape. I don't plan to include that in this story since it would make Setsuna more fragile than she is. But anyways, in this chap he'll laugh it off his prior behavior as mere teasing and settling in to observe what happens next. And will attempt to build a relationship with her from there.**

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Akisame sat at the dining room table with Setsuna resting in his lap, her body curled up against his own as if subconsciously trying to seek comfort from him even though she hadn't regained her senses just yet. Worrying him more than just a little. Perhaps he really had come onto her too strongly. But in all honesty he hadn't thought that she would be so weak against such a blatantly direct approach to courting her. He had thought/felt that he had a good enough grasp of her personality to make a decent choice about how to broach the subject.

But apparently he had been mistaken.

It was galling really, being mistaken, that is. He was someone who was considered by others to be a perfectionist, though he wasn't. Still he rarely made such errors in judgement. And that was what bugged him the most.

Everything he knew about the woman in his arms so far spoke of strength and courage and spirit despite great adversity. Everything he was sure he knew about her told him that making a move on her, though perhaps a bit surprising to her at the moment, should not have shaken her up so badly that she would actually swoon from a mere kiss or caress. Then again perhaps he had simply been holding himself back too much and had come undone a little bit more than usual.

He...wasn't totally sure anymore. All he knew was that time had reached the forty five minute mark and Setsuna still wasn't showing any signs of waking. And he was starting to really worry. He was about to take her up to her bedroom and give her a small (as non invasive physical) as humanly possible. Probably the first in the history of physicals, to see if she was perhaps suffering from anemia or low blood pressure at the moment or something when she finally started to come around a bit.

She moaned softly as she turned her head to bury her face slightly against his chest for a moment as a small frown creased her brow as her eyes fluttered open for a moment only to close again a second later.

Shifting his hold on her slightly, he brought his free hand up to cup her cheek then slid it into her hair and began to finger comb her hair back from her face as she opened her eyes again and finally looked at him, her mind working in a slow daze before everything seemed to hit her. Him, the kitchen, his kisses and other things- Her eyes went impossibly wide and she made a peculiar sort of squeaking sound as her eyes locked on his face.

"Ah," He said as his fingers stopped combing through her hair and he said, "You're finally awake. Are you feeling better now?"

"I- Ah- W-What?" Setsuna said stupidly, apparently her mind just wasn't up to par just yet. But no matter. Akisame thought as he stood up, taking her with him as he did so and moved around the chair he'd previously been using and gently deposited her in it before saying,

"I'll take what language skills you still manage to possess as a good thing. Why don't you sit there and rest a bit more and I'll begin preparing dinner for all of us."

"W-What? Wait!" Setsuna exclaimed as she finally seemed to regain her ability to think as well as speak. "Do you even know how to cook?" She asked in a worried tone. It wasn't the issue he had hoped she would bring up, He thought with a smile as he picked up her kitchen knife and a carrot and demonstrated; but like with all things- it was a work in progress.


End file.
